One day, a college student was taking a walk with a professor. As they went along, they saw

lying in the path a pair of old shoes. They supposed the shoes belonged to a poor man who was employed in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day’s word.

The student turned to the professor, saying, “ Let us play the man a trick: we will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his confusion when he cannot find them”.

“My young friend,” answered the professor, “we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by tricking on the poor man. Put a coin into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how the discovery affects him.”

The student did so, and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes. After he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, he felt something hard. He bent down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen on his face.

He fixed his eyes on the coin, turned it round, and looked at it again and again. He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and continued to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin. His feelings overcame him. He fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and cried a sincere thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, Whom the timely help, from some unknown hand, would save from dying.

The student stood there, deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears.“Now,”said the professor,“are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?”

The youth replied,“You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget.

1.The student wanted to play the poor man a trick to _________________.

A.find the truth B.show his wisdom

C.amuse himself D.teach him a lesson

2.After finding the two coins, the man felt_____________.

A.helpless B.interested

C.peaceful D.thankful

3.We can know from the passage that the professor is ___________.

A.wise B.rich C.humorous D.serious

4.What dose the story intend to tell us?

A.A small act of kindness brings great joy.

B.God helps those who help themselves.

C.Where there is a will, there is a way.

D.Actions speak louder than words.

Speed-reading is a necessary skill in the Internet age.We skim over articles, e-mails and WeChat to try to grasp key words and the essential meaning of a certain text.Surrounded with information from our electronic devices, it would be impossible to cope if we read word by word, line by line.But a new trend calls on people to unplug and enjoy reading slowly, listing benefits beyond the intelligent stimulation.

A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a cafe and turn off their smartphones.They sink into cozy chairs and read in silence for an hour. Unlike traditional book clubs, the point of the slow reading club isn't exchanging ideas about a certain book, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, relaxed environment. According to the Journal, the Wellington book club is just one example of a movement started by book lovers who miss the old-fashioned way of reading before the Internet and smartphones.

Slow readers, such as The Atlantic's Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to sympathize. Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps people understand other's mental states and beliefs, a fundamental skill in building relationships.

Yet technology has made us less attentive readers. Screens have changed our reading patterns from the straight and information.left-to-right sequence to a wild skimming and skipping pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading text punctuated with links leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text. The Internet may have made us stupider, says Patrick Kingsley from The Guardian. Because of the Internet, he says, we have become very good at collecting a wide range of interesting news, but we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, reflect, and relate all these facts to each other.

Slow reading means a return to an uninterrupted, straight pattern, in a quiet environment free of distractions. Aim for 30 minutes a day, advises Kelly from The Atlantic. “You can squeeze in that half hour pretty easily if only during your free moments, you pick up a meaningful work of literature,” Kelly said. “Reach for your e-reader, if you like. Kindles make books like War and Peace less heavy, not less substantive, and also ensure you'll never lose your place.”

1.The book club in Wellington mentioned in Paragraph 2 shows____________.

A.the new trend of slow reading

B.the decline of electronic devices

C.the importance of exchanging ideas

D.the increasing number of club readers

2.According to Patrick Kingsley, people are stupider partly because of_____________.

A.a non-stop reading pattern

B.the straight, left-to-right screen

C.a wide range of interesting news

D.the lack of reflection

3.According to the passage, slow reading___________.

A.contributes to understanding among people

B.promotes the current technology advances

C.provides people with a quiet environment

D.cures the memory loss of elderly people

4.What's the best title for the passage?

A.Benefit of Reading Clubs.

B.Return of Slow Reading.

C.Reading of the Internet Age.

D.Influence of Speed Reading.

If you have a bad habit of losing things, a new device that can be connected to any item that you might lose may be the way to solve your problem. The Tile, a small square linked up to your iPhone or iPad via Bluetooth, lets you see how close you are to the missing item, within a 50-to 150-foot range . If the item goes out of your phone’s 150-foot range, it can still be detected (发现) on other smartphones with the same app.

When you log into the app on your phone, it shows you, with green bars that increase or decrease, how far away you are from the Tile. You can also program it to make a sound when you get close to the Tile. And you can link up your phone with up to ten Tiles. And if your lost item — a dog, for example, or a stolen bike — goes out of your own phone’s 150-foot Bluetooth range, you can set it as a “lost item”. If any of the phones with the Tile app comes within the range of your lost item, a message will be sent to your own phone, reminding you of its position. The Tile app also has the function to remember where it last saw your Tile, so that you can easily find where you left it.

Since the Tiles use Bluetooth rather than GPS, they never run out of battery or need to be charged, and they last for one year before needing to be replaced. The app, which will come into the market this winter, works with iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPad Mini, iPad 3rd and 4th generation, and iPod 5th generation.

1.The Tile app can help you .

A. find your missing items

B. use your phone more wisely

C. save your phone’s battery power

D. connect something to your phone

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The Tile needs to be charged after a year of use.

B. One smartphone can only be linked up to one Tile.

C. The Tile cannot work when linked up to a phone without Bluetooth.

D. A missing item can’t be found if it goes out of the needed range.

3.What does the second paragraph mainly tell us?

A. What the Tile app is.

B. How the Tile app works.

C. The advantages of the Tile app.

D. Why the Tile app was invented.

4.Where does this passage probably come from?

A. A science fiction novel.

B. An advertisement.

C. A personal diary.

D. A news report.

An African proverb says that a single hand cannot tie a bundle. Everyone needs companions to help them sail through the rough seas of life. Even the strongest and richest person still needs friends. Our money and strength would have no value if we had no friends to share with us. The best friendship is a give-and-take relationship. We need the support of our family, friends and the community. In turn we also give support to the society, our friends and our family.

The word “friend” has many meanings. It could be the bus driver who takes you to and from work every day. It could be a parent, a colleague, a wife or husband, a brother or sister, or even the unknown person who helped you just once when you could not find your way. Real friends share not only our happiness but our sorrows as well. This may explain why we have the expression “a friend in need is a friend indeed”.

Friendship is like the sunshine that keeps us warm. It is like the refreshing raindrops on the fields that give the farmers hope of a good planting season. Without friends our life would be like a desert where our only friend would be loneliness and sadness. The most fortunate person is the one who has friends from all levels in the society. A driver might find friends not only among his colleagues but among farmers, bankers, traders, students, politicians or teachers. We should never forget our old friends when we make new ones. We should treasure each of our friends whether poor or rich, beautiful or not. Each friend is unique in his or her own way. And all together, they enrich life and make it very colourful.

1. What is the main topic of the passage?

A. How to sail through the sea of life.

B. Friends and friendship.

C. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

D. Never forget old friends when making new ones.

2. What is the correct understanding of friends according to the writer?

A. Friends who share our happiness are not real friends.

B. Friends will take us through rough seas.

C. Friends never expect anything from others.

D. Friends can be different people around us.

3. An unknown person can be a friend as well when .

A. he helps you with what you need

B. he is told how to find his way

C. he becomes one of your family

D. he is a driver taking you from and to work

4. The underlined word “unique” in the last paragraph most probably means “ ”.

A. special B. poor C. rich D. Valuable

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