Passage 1 is from the introduction to a Zen Buddhist (禅宗的佛教僧侣) manual on the art of “mindfulness”, the practice of paying close attention to the present moment. Passage 2 is from an essay by a United States author.
Passage 1
Every morning, when we wake up, we have 24 brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these 24 hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and to others.
Peace is right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We don’t have to travel far away to enjoy the blue sky. We don’t have to leave our city or even our neighborhood to enjoy the eyes of a beautiful child. Even the air we breathe can be a source of joy.
We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat our meals in a way that allows us to be in touch with the abundance of happiness that is available. We are very good at preparing how to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with joy, peace, and serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.
Passage 2
The argument of both the hedonist (享乐主义者) and the guru (印度教的宗师)is that we were but to open ourselves to the richness of the moment, to concentrate on the feast before us, we would be filled with bliss. I have lived in the present from time to time and can tell you that it is much overrated. Occasionally, as a holiday from stroking one’s memories or brooding (担忧) about future worries, I grant you, it can be a nice change of pace. But to “be here now,” hour after hour, would never work. I don’t even approve of stories written in the present tense. Ads for poets who never use a past participate, they deserve the eternity they are striving for.
Besides, the present has a way of intruding whether you like it or not. Why should I go out of my way to meet it? Let it splash on me from time to time, like a car going through a puddle, and I, on the sidewalk of my solitude (孤独), will salute it grimly like any other modern inconvenience.
If I attend a concert, obviously not to listen to the music but to find a brief breathing space in which to meditate on the past and future. I realize that there may be moments when the music invades my ears and I am forced to pay attention to it, note for note. I believe I take such intrusions gracefully. The present is not always anunwelcome guest, so long as it doesn’t stay too long and cut into my remembering or brooding time.
【小题1】The author of Passage 1 would most likely view the author of Passage 2 as _______.

A.failing to respect the feelings of other people
B.squandering (浪费) a precious opportunity on a daily basis
C.advocating an action without considering the consequences
D.attaching too much importance to the views of others
【小题2】The author of Passage 1 would most likely respond to the “argument” (line 1 Passage 2) with_______.
A.absolute neutralityB.partial acceptance
C.complete agreementD.surprised disbelief
【小题3】In Passage 1 line 11, the list (“a job…house”) presents things that most people ________.
A.assume they will eventually obtain
B.eventually realize are overrated
C.are unwilling to make sacrifices for
D.see as worth much effort to acquire
【小题4】In Passage 2 lines 8—10, the “present” is characterized as _________.
A.an unavoidable imposition (强加)
B.an unsolvable puzzle
C.a dangerous threat
D.a burdensome obligation
【小题5】Which of the following phrases from Passage 2would the author of Passage 1 most likely choose as a title for Passage 1?
A.“the hedonist and the guru” (line 1)
B.“a brief breathing space” (line 11)
C.“the feast before us” (line 2)
D.“an unwelcome guest” (line 14)

Growing up, I remember my father as a silent, serious man not the sort of person around whom one could laugh. As a teenager arriving in America, knowing nothing, I wanted a father who could explain the human journey. In college, when friends called home for advice, 1 would sink into deep depression for what I did not have.

Today. at twenty-seven, I have come to rediscover them in ways that my teenage mind would not allow — as adults and as friends with their own faults and weaknesses.

One night after my move back home, I overheard my father on the telephone. There was some trouble. Later, Dad shared the problem with me. Apparently my legal training had earned me some privileges in his eyes. I talked through the problem with Dad. analyzing the purposes of the people involved and offering several negotiation strategies. He listened patiently before finally admitting, “I can’t think like that. I am a simple man.”

Dad is a brilliant scientist who can deconstruct (解构) the building blocks of nature. Yet human nature is a mystery to him. That night I realized that he was simply not skilled at dealing with people, much less the trouble of a conflicted teenager. It’s not in his nature to understand human desires.

And so, there it was — it was no one’s fault that my father held no interest in human lives while 1 placed great importance in them. We are at times born more sensitive, wide-eyed, and dreamy than our parents and become more curious and idealistic than them. Dad perhaps never expected me for a child. And I, who knew Dad as an intelligent man, had never understood that his intelligence did not cover all of my feelings.

It has saved me years of questioning and confusion. I now see my parents as people who have other relationships than just Father and Mother. I now overlook their many faults and weaknesses, which once annoyed me.

I now know my parents as friends: people who ask me for advice; people who need my support and understanding. And I’ve come to see my past clearly.

1.What was the author’s impression of her father when she was a teenager?

A. Friendly but irresponsible.

B. Intelligent but severe.

C. Cold and aggressive.

D. Caring and communicative.

2.Why did the author feel depressed when her friends called home?

A. She did not have a phone to a1l home.

B. Her father did not care about her human journey.

C. Her father was too busy to answer her phone.

D. Her father couldn’t give her appropriate advice.

3.After the author overheard her father on the telephone.

A. he blamed her for impoliteness

B. he rediscovered human nature

C. he consulted with her about his problem

D. he changed his attitude towards the author

4.The author realized that ______.

A. her father had too many faults and weaknesses

B. her father was not as intelligent as she had thought

C. her father was not good at interpersonal relationships

D. her father placed too much importance in social activities

5.Which of the following is the best title of this passage?

A. My Parents as Friends

B. My Parents as Advisors

C. My Father — a Serious Man

D. My Father — an Intelligent Scientist

 

 

The sun shone in through the dining room window, lighting up the hardwood floor. We had been talking there for nearly two hours. The phone of the “Nightline” rang yet again and Morrie asked his helper, Connie, to get it. She had been taking down the callers’ names in Morrie’s small black appointment book. It was clear I was not the only one interested in visiting my old professor—the “Nightline” appearance had made him something of a big figure—but I was impressed with, perhaps even a bit envious of, all the friends that Morrie seemed to have.

       “You know, Mitch, now that I'm dying, I’ve become much more interesting to people. I’m on the last great journey here—and people want me to tell them what to pack.”

    The phone rang again. “Morrie, can you talk?” Connie asked.

    “I’m visiting with my old friend now,” he announced, “Let them call back.”

    I cannot tell you why he received me so warmly. I was hardly the promising student who had left him sixteen years earlier. Had it not been for “Nightline”, Morrie might have died without ever seeing me again.

       What happened to me? The eighties happened. The nineties happened. Death and sickness and getting fat and going bald happened. I traded lots of dreams for a bigger paycheck, and I never even realized I was doing it. Yet here was Morrie talking with the wonder of our college years, as if I’d simply been on a long vacation.

       “Have you found someone to share your heart with?” he asked. “Are you at peace with yourself?” “Are you trying to be as human as you can be?”

       I felt ashamed, wanting to show I had been trying hard to work out such questions. What happened to me? I once promised myself I would never work for money, that I would join the Peace Corps, and that 1 would live in beautiful, inspirational places.

       Instead, I had been in Detroit for ten years, at the same workplace, using the same bank, visiting the same barber. I was thirty-seven, more mature than in college, tied to computers and modems and cell phones. I was no longer young, nor did I walk around in gray sweatshirts with unlit cigarettes in my mouth. I did not have long discussions over egg salad sandwiches about the meaning of life.

       My days were full, yet I remained, much of the time, unsatisfied. What happened to me?

1. When did the author graduate from Morrie’s college?

       A. In the eighties.    B. In the nineties.    C. When he was 16.         D. When he was 21.

2. What do we know about the “Nightline”?

    A. Morrie started it by himself.                      B. It helped Morrie earn a fame.

C. The author helped Morrie start it.              D. It was only operated at night.

3. What can we infer from the passage?

         A. Both the author and Morrie liked travelling.

         B. Morrie liked helping people pack things for their journeys.

         C. The author envied Morrie’s friends the help they got from him.

         D. The author earned a lot of money at the cost of his dreams.

4. What’s the author’s feeling when he writes this passage?

         A. Regretful.        B. Enthusiastic.            C. Sympathetic.         D. Humorous.

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网