MOST recently, my world has been shaken by the death of a teacher at my school. He was Dr Allan Woolley and he was only 52. Suddenly he took his own life, which remains a mystery.
That morning, everyone sensed that something wasn't right. During our lessons, an announcement was made that an assembly (集会) was scheduled for morning break, which was only done in emergencies.
Once morning break came, the entire school gathered in the main hall. As our headmaster marched out to announce the "momentous (重大的) news", it felt like the air around us trembled . Many students broke down in tears, and the reaction afterward was intensely powerful and unifying .  
The headmaster said that students were allowed to miss lessons and have a free period to collect themselves if they found the news too distressing (悲伤的). Many students went outside and shared memories of Dr Woolley to control theirselves.
Dr Woolley taught me chemistry two years ago, but up until his death he still taught many of my close friends. Many of my friends were so shocked that they still couldn't believe the person that they had owed (欠) some homework to was now dead.
It was heart-warming to spend time with teachers that morning and get to know more about them. Despite the time of sadness, I feel that every cloud has a silver lining. Although Dr Woolley's death is something nobody wanted to see, we must move on.

  1. 1.

    What did the students feel at the news of his teacher’s death?

    1. A.
      unhappy
    2. B.
      shocked
    3. C.
      surprised
    4. D.
      silent
  2. 2.

    What does the underlined word “collect” in Paragraph4 mean?

    1. A.
      bring something together
    2. B.
      calm down
    3. C.
      increase in amount
    4. D.
      get and keep
  3. 3.

    Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

    1. A.
      The real cause of Dr Woolley’s death is known to us
    2. B.
      Many students didn’t prepare themselves for the bad news so that they felt very sad
    3. C.
      It takes the whole school some time to recover from the dispressing news
    4. D.
      Dr Woolley’s death allows students to understand teachers better
  4. 4.

    It can be inferred from the underlined sentences in the last paregraph that______

    1. A.
      Dr Woolley’s death made students sad
    2. B.
      There is still some comfort and hope in trouble
    3. C.
      Dr Woolley’s death disappointed students greatly
    4. D.
      We should forget the fact to study better
  5. 5.

    The best title for the passage should be_______

    1. A.
      Our School Faces a Tragedy
    2. B.
      Dr Woolley—A Great Teacher
    3. C.
      The Living Live For the Death
    4. D.
      Lesson From the Death

Which is safer --- staying at home, traveling to work on public transport, or working at the office? Surprisingly, each of these carries the same risk, which is very low．However, what about flying compared to working in the chemical industry? Unfortunately, the former is 65 times riskier than the latter! In fact the accident rate of workers in the chemical industry is less than that of almost any of human activity, and almost as safe as staying at home．
The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause death to those living nearby．It is this that makes chemical accidents so newsworthy．Fortunately, they are extremely rare．The most famous ones happened at Texas City （1947）, Flixborough （1974）, Seveso （1976）, Pemex （1984） and Bhopal （1984）．
Some of these are always in the minds of the people even though the loss of life was small．No one died at Seveso, and only 28 workers at Flixborough．The worst accident of all was Bhopal, where up to 3,000 were killed．The Texas City explosion of fertilizer killed 552．The Pemex fire at a storage plant for natural gas in the suburbs of Mexico City took 542 lives, just a month before the unfortunate event at Bhopal．
Some experts have discussed these accidents and used each accident to illustrate a particular danger．Thus the Texas City was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate, which is safe unless stored in a great quantity．The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management, which took risks to keep production  going during essential repairs．The Seveso accident shows what happens if the local authorities lack knowledge of the danger on their doorstep．When the poisonous gas drifted over the town , local leaders were incapable of taking effective action．The Pemex fire was made worse by an overloaded site in an overcrowded suburb．The fire set off a chain reaction of exploding storage tanks．Yet, by a miracle, the two largest tanks did not explode．Had these caught fire, then 3,000 strong rescue team and fire fighters would all have died．

  1. 1.

    Which of the following statements is TRUE?

    1. A.
      Working at the office is safer than staying at home．
    2. B.
      Travelling to work on public transport is safer than working at the office．
    3. C.
      Staying at home is safer than working in the chemical industry．
    4. D.
      Working in the chemical industry is safer than traveling by air．
  2. 2.

    Chemical accidents are usually important enough to be reported as news because______.

    1. A.
      they are very rare
    2. B.
      they often cause loss of life
    3. C.
      they always occur in big cities
    4. D.
      they arouse the interest of all the readers
  3. 3.

    According to the passage, the chemical accident that caused by the fault of management happened in______.

    1. A.
      Texas city
    2. B.
      Flixborough
    3. C.
      Seveso
    4. D.
      Mexico City
  4. 4.

    From the passage we know that “ammonium nitrate” is a kind of______.

    1. A.
      natural gas, which can easily catch fire
    2. B.
      fertilizer, which can't be stored in a great quantity
    3. C.
      poisonous substance, which can't be used in overcrowded areas
    4. D.
      fuel, which is stored in large tanks
  5. 5.

    From the discussion among some experts we may conclude that______.

    1. A.
      to avoid any accident we should not repair the facilities in chemical industry
    2. B.
      the local authorities should not be concerned with the production of the chemical industry
    3. C.
      all these accidents could have been avoided or controlled if effective measures had been taken
    4. D.
      natural gas stored in very large tanks is always safe

“NOW I just don't believe that. ”Surely all of us, at some point, have watched a movie and thought: It's simply badly researched，or the makers must think we're fools. Recently, The Daily Telegraph ran a humorous piece on untrue tech moments from some top movies. Let’s see what they are all about.
Tom Chiver, the writer of The Daily Telegraph uses his first example from the movie Independence Day, in which a character comes up with a virus（病毒）which destroys Windows the computer system the alien （外星人）spacecraft uses. “It's a good thing that they didn't have Norton Anti-virus，” jokes  Chivers.
It's just one case of a movie that takes a lot of license with its science. Another one Chivers mentions is from the movie Star Wars, where the glowing light beams (光束）traveling through space look very impressive. But the problem is that in space there are no air particles (粒子）for the light to reflect off. In reality, they'd be invisible（看不见的）, which wouldn’t look so cool on the big screen.
Most people think that the mind—bending Matrix films are made for great viewing. But for Chivers, the science in the movies is a little bit silly. He comments “…the film is based on the idea that humans are kept alive as electricity generators (发电机). This is not just unlikely —it's basically impossible. They would need more energy to stay alive than they would produce. It's just like saying that you'll power the car with batteries, and keep the batteries charged by running a generator from the wheels. ”
And finally, as Chivers points out, DNA is not replaceable. But this bit of elementary genetics passed the makers of the 2002 Bond film Die Another Day by. In the film the bad guy has “gene treatment” to change his appearance and his DNA, which is completely impossible in our real world

  1. 1.

    Which of the following does the writer agree with about the movie Independence Day?

    1. A.
      It's a science fiction movie
    2. B.
      It's about the alien spacecraft
    3. C.
      It's produced by Tom Chiver
    4. D.
      It's a jokey and humorous one
  2. 2.

    What is mainly talked about in the 4th paragraph?

    1. A.
      How we can power the car with batteries
    2. B.
      How Tom Chiver thinks of the Matrix films
    3. C.
      How humans are kept alive as power generator
    4. D.
      How the Matrix films are made for great viewing
  3. 3.

    Which of the following is true according to the passage?

    1. A.
      The movie Star Wars is about the light beams in space
    2. B.
      The author doesn't take the science in movies seriously
    3. C.
      Nowadays nobody believes in science movies any more
    4. D.
      There is a horrible virus in the movie Independence Day
  4. 4.

    The underlined word “They” in the 4th paragraph refers to ______.

    1. A.
      human beings
    2. B.
      car wheels
    3. C.
      Matrix films
    4. D.
      electricity generators

Electronic books have changed the way many people read for pleasure. Now online textbooks are changing the way some students learn and some teachers teach.
More than one hundred seventy-five thousand students attend the public schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, outside Washington. Last year, the school system used digital books in fifteen schools. This school year, middle schools and high schools changed from printed to electronic textbooks in their social studies classes.
Luke Rosa is a history teacher at Falls Church High School. His students work on laptop computers at school. He explains the idea to them this way. “I mean, it’s just like a regular textbook, except it’s got it all online.”
Peter Noonan, an assistant superintendent (助理监督) of schools, said, “The world’s changing. And the online textbooks can change right along with the events that are happening.” Digital books also cost less than printed textbooks, he said.
A student named Melanie Reuter said, “I don’t have to carry a textbook around, so that’s nice.”
But another student said, “I don’t like it because the Internet sometimes doesn’t work.”
Students also need access to the Internet when they are not at school. About ten percent of students in Fairfax Country do not have a computer or online access at home. Public libraries in the country have free Internet. There are also after-school computer labs as well as computer clubhouse supported by the country. Middle school student Slieman Hakim is happy about that. He said, “My family only has one computer; my sister and I both do our homework on it. So I come here to do my homework. It’s good.”
Other school systems in the area are also considering online textbooks

  1. 1.

    Which of the following is /are NOT used when students have social studies classes?

    1. A.
      Paper textbooks
    2. B.
      The Internet
    3. C.
      Computers
    4. D.
      Electronic textbooks
  2. 2.

    According to the passage, one of the disadvantages of digital textbooks is that_________

    1. A.
      they are more expensive
    2. B.
      they can’t be used if the computer is offline
    3. C.
      they’re soon out of date
    4. D.
      reading online does harm to the students’ eyes
  3. 3.

    Why does Slieman Hakim feel happy?

    1. A.
      He is offered a free computer to do his homework
    2. B.
      He doesn’t have to do his homework at home
    3. C.
      He has access to the Internet to study at any place
    4. D.
      He needn’t share a computer with his sister to do homework
  4. 4.

    What can we learn from the passage?

    1. A.
      The lessons online are completely different from those in paper textbooks
    2. B.
      Digital textbooks are more beautiful than paper textbooks
    3. C.
      All students like digital textbooks because they are new
    4. D.
      Students can do their homework in the computer clubhouses
  5. 5.

    The passage aims to ________

    1. A.
      report the use of electronic textbooks in school
    2. B.
      show how to use electronic textbooks
    3. C.
      encourage more schools to use electronic textbooks
    4. D.
      tell readers electronic textbooks will replace regular textbooks

The evidence for harmony （ 和谐）may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly-held image(形象) of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.
An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past. "We were surprised by just how positive today's young people seem to be about their families," said one member of the research team. "They're expected to be rebellious(叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There's more negotiation(商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don't want to rock the boat."
So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. "My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me," says 17-years-old Daniel Lazall. " I always tell them when I'm going out clubbing. As long as they know what I'm doing, they're fine with it." Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. "Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I'd done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that."
Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, "Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over."

  1. 1.

    According to the author, teenage rebellion ________

    1. A.
      resulted from changes in families
    2. B.
      is common nowadays
    3. C.
      may be a false belief
    4. D.
      existed only in the 1960s
  2. 2.

    What is the passage mainly about?

    1. A.
      Education in family
    2. B.
      Harmony in family
    3. C.
      Teenage trouble in family
    4. D.
      Negotiation in family
  3. 3.

    The study shows that teenagers don't want to ________

    1. A.
      go boating with their family
    2. B.
      share family responsibility
    3. C.
      make family decisions
    4. D.
      cause trouble in their families
  4. 4.

    Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today's parents ________

    1. A.
      care less about their children's life
    2. B.
      go to clubs more often with their children
    3. C.
      give their children more freedom
    4. D.
      are much stricter with their children

The life-long benefits of teaching children how to take care of their money make it well worth the effort. Children who are not taught these lessons pay the consequences for a life time. Some parents don’t teach children about money because they think they shouldn’t talk about money with children, don’t have the time, or think they don’t have enough money. Parents should take the time to teach children about money regardless of their income and should start when children are young.
Most people have strong feelings and opinions about money, based on childhood experiences and the values and beliefs of their families. Most often, these experiences, values, and beliefs are different for each parent. Parents should talk about these feelings and opinions and establish an unchanging approach（方式） to teaching children about money. This is important for the healthy development of children.
Here are some tips that parents can keep in mind as they begin teaching their children to manage money:
★ Guide and advise your children how to spend their money, rather than tell them what they can and cannot do.
★ Encourage and praise children rather than criticize their actions.
★ Allow children to learn by mistakes and by successes.
★ Be consistent（前后一致的） while taking children’s differences into consideration.
★ Include all family members in money management discussions, decision making, and activities that are suitable for their age. As children get older include them in discussions of limits and consequences.
★ Expect all family members to do some everyday chores based on their abilities without being paid.
★ Express your desire to have things you can’t afford. Children need to know that parents say “no” to themselves, too

  1. 1.

    It is _____ for parents to teach their children about money management in their childhood

    1. A.
      easy
    2. B.
      useless
    3. C.
      too early
    4. D.
      beneficial
  2. 2.

    15-year-old Harry isn’t good at managing his money. His mother is advised to _____

    1. A.
      explain to him how to manage his money better
    2. B.
      pay him more money to deal with his chores
    3. C.
      praise him for what he has done
    4. D.
      allow him to buy what he wants
  3. 3.

    When parents discuss how to manage the family finances, they should _____

    1. A.
      include their children in the discussion
    2. B.
      express their desire to have some valuable things
    3. C.
      pay more attention to their children’s differences
    4. D.
      try to meet their older children’s needs first

Honesty comes in many forms. First there’s self-honesty. Is what people see the real article or do you appear through smoke and mirrors? I find that if I try to be something I’m not. I feel unsure of myself and take out a part from my PBA(personal bank account). I love how singer Judy Garland put it. “Always be a first-class version(版本) of yourself, instead of a second-class version of somebody else. ” Then there’s honesty in our actions. Are you honest at school, with your parents, and with your boss? If you’ve ever been dishonest, I think we all have, try being honest, and notice how whole it makes you feel. Remember, you can’t do wrong and feel right. This story by Jeff is a good example of that
In my second year of study, there were three kids in my math class who didn’t do well. I was really good at it. I would charge them three dollars for each test that I helped them pass. I’d write on a little piece of paper all the right answers, and hand them off. At first I felt like I was making money, kind of a nice job. I wasn’t thinking about how it could hurt all of us. After a while I realized I shouldn’t do that any more, because I wasn’t really helping them. They weren’t learning anything, and it would only get harder down the road. Cheating certainly wasn’t helping me.
It takes courage to be honest when people all around you are getting away with cheating on tests, lying to their parents, and stealing at work. But, remember, every act of honesty is a deposit(储蓄) into your PBA and will build strength

  1. 1.

    The underlined part “appear through smoke and mirrors” in the FIRST paragraph means________

    1. A.
      to be unreal
    2. B.
      to be honest
    3. C.
      to become clear
    4. D.
      to come from an imagined world
  2. 2.

    Which of the following can best explain Judy Garland’s words?

    1. A.
      Don’t copy others or you can’t be the first class
    2. B.
      Be your true self rather than follow others
    3. C.
      Make efforts to be the first instead of the second
    4. D.
      Don’t learn from others unless they’re excellent
  3. 3.

    What does the author expect to show by Jeff’s story?

    1. A.
      Honesty can be of great help
    2. B.
      A bad thing can be turned into a good one
    3. C.
      One should realize the wrong in his bad deeds
    4. D.
      Helping others cheat can do good to nobody
  4. 4.

    In the last paragraph the author mainly wants to express________

    1. A.
      one must be brave to be honest
    2. B.
      it’s difficult to be honest when others are not
    3. C.
      one should be honest when making a deposit
    4. D.
      honesty in one’s actions can help him in the future

In a few states where racial prejudice is serious, violence has so come to be taken for granted as a means of solving differences, that it is not even questioned. There are states where the white man imposes his rule by force; there are states where the black man protests by setting fire to cities and by looting and pillaging. Important people on both sides, who would in other respects appear to be reasonable men, get up and calmly argue in favor of violence – as if it were a legitimate solution, like any other. What is really frightening, what really fills you with despair, is the realization that when it comes to the crunch, we have made no actual progress at all. We may wear collars and ties instead of war-paint, but our instincts remain basically unchanged. The whole of the recorded history of the human race, that tedious documentation of violence, has taught us absolutely nothing. We have still not learnt that violence never solves a problem but makes it more serious. The sheer horror, the bloodshed, the suffering mean nothing. No solution ever comes to light the morning after when we dismally contemplate the smoking ruins and wonder what hit us.
The truly reasonable men who know where the solutions lie are finding it harder and harder to get a hearing. They are despised, mistrusted and even persecuted by their own kind because they advocate such apparently outrageous things as law enforcement. If half the energy that goes into violent acts were put to good use, if our efforts were directed at cleaning up the shabby houses at improving living-standards and providing education and employment for all, we would have gone a long way to arriving at a solution. Our strength is weakened by having to mop up the mess that violence leaves in its wake. In a well-directed effort, it would not be impossible to fulfill the ideals of a stable social programme. The benefits that can be derived from constructive solutions are everywhere apparent in the world around us. Genuine and lasting solutions are always possible, providing we work within the framework of the law.
Before we can even begin to reflect on peaceful co-existence between the races, we must appreciate each other's problems. And to do this, we must learn about them: it is a simple exercise in communication, in exchanging information. "Talk, talk, talk," the advocates of violence say, "all you ever do is talk, and we are none the wiser." It's rather like the story of the famous lawyer who carefully explained his case to the judge. After listening to a lengthy argument the judge complained that after all this talk, he was none the wiser. "Possible, my lord," the lawyer replied, "none the wiser, but surely far better informed." Knowledge is the necessary prerequisite to wisdom: the knowledge that violence creates the evils it pretends to solve

  1. 1.

    What is the best title for this passage?

    1. A.
      Advocating Violence
    2. B.
      Violence Can Do Nothing to Reduce Race Prejudice
    3. C.
      Important People on Both Sides See Violence As a Legitimate Solution
    4. D.
      The Instincts of Human Race Are Thirsty for Violence
  2. 2.

    Recorded history has taught us

    1. A.
      violence never solves anything
    2. B.
      nothing
    3. C.
      the bloodshed means nothing
    4. D.
      everything
  3. 3.

    According the author the best way to solve race prejudice is

    1. A.
      law enforcement
    2. B.
      knowledge
    3. C.
      nonviolence
    4. D.
      Mopping up the violent mess

2008 will be remembered by us Chinese people as a year of sadness and happiness. May of the year sadly saw the Great Sichuan Earthquake, the worst earthquake in China over 30 years. It killed around 70,000 people. Tens of thousands were injured or went missing.
However, to our delight, China also hosted its first Olympic games that summer in Beijing. It was a very successful games with a great opening ceremony. 43 new world records and 132 new Olympic records were made. And China came out first with 51 gold medals

  1. 1.

    When did the Great Sichuan Earthquake happen?

    1. A.
      In 2005
    2. B.
      In 2006
    3. C.
      In 2007
    4. D.
      In 2008
  2. 2.

    About 70,000 people ______ in the earthquake

    1. A.
      were killed
    2. B.
      were injured
    3. C.
      went missing
    4. D.
      went hungry
  3. 3.

    How many gold medals did China win at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games?

    1. A.
      175
    2. B.
      132
    3. C.
      51
    4. D.
      43
  4. 4.

    We Chinese people were ______ in 2008

    1. A.
      sad
    2. B.
      happy
    3. C.
      neither sad nor happy
    4. D.
      both sad and happy

I must have been about fourteen then, and I put away the incident from my mind with the easy carelessness of youth. But the words, Carl Walter spoke that day, came back to me years later, and ever since have been of great value to me.
Carl Walter was my piano teacher. During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing. I said three or four hours a day.
“Do you practice in long stretches, an hour at a time?”
“I try to.”
“Well, don’t, ” he said loudly. “When you grow up, time won’t come in long stretches. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch, between household tasks. Spread the practice through the day, and piano-playing will become a part of your life.”
When I was teaching at Columbia, I wanted to write, but class periods, theme-reading, and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. For two years I got practically nothing down on paper, and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I remembered what Carl Walter had said. During the next week I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my astonishment, at the end of the week I had a rather large manuscript(手稿) ready for revision. Later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal （零碎的）method. Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, in every day there were moments which could be caught and put to use.
There is an important trick in this time-using principle: you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for writing, you can’t afford to waste it in chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately, rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.
I admit I have never learnt how to let go easily at the end of the five or ten minutes. But life can be counted on to supply interruptions. Carl Walter has had a significant influence on my life. To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all useful hours I need, if I throw myself into it without delay

  1. 1.

    The meaning of “stretch” in the underlined part is the same as that in the sentence “_______”

    1. A.
      The dog woke up, had a good stretch and wandered off
    2. B.
      Bob worked as a government official for a stretch of over twenty years
    3. C.
      My family wasn’t wealthy by any stretch of the imagination
    4. D.
      This material has a lot of stretch in it
  2. 2.

    Which of the following statements is TRUE?

    1. A.
      The author didn’t take the teacher’s words to heart at first
    2. B.
      Rapid concentration is more difficult than people imagine
    3. C.
      The author thanked his teacher for teaching him to work in long stretches
    4. D.
      Carl Walter has influenced the writer greatly since he was a student
  3. 3.

    We can infer that the author______

    1. A.
      had new books published each year however busy his teaching is
    2. B.
      is tired of interruptions in life because he always has much work
    3. C.
      has formed a bad habit of chewing a pencil while writing his novels
    4. D.
      makes mental preparations beforehand so as to focus on work quickly
  4. 4.

    What is probably the best title for this text?

    1. A.
      Concentrate on Your Work
    2. B.
      A Little at a Time
    3. C.
      How I Became a Writer
    4. D.
      Good Advice
 0  10608  10616  10622  10626  10632  10634  10638  10644  10646  10652  10658  10662  10664  10668  10674  10676  10682  10686  10688  10692  10694  10698  10700  10702  10703  10704  10706  10707  10708  10710  10712  10716  10718  10722  10724  10728  10734  10736  10742  10746  10748  10752  10758  10764  10766  10772  10776  10778  10784  10788  10794  10802  151629 

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