Start Today

  "What can you do when you have done nothing but mess up your whole  life  long?" These were the words I heard when I   36   the TV the other day. They were coming  from one of  the  talk shows   37 are so popular on TV  these days.  I started  to  turn the channel but  the words  I had   38   made me stop  for a moment.  I   39    the speaker of  them. He couldn't have been more  than 18 years old, but already he was writing off （认为……已失败） his life as a useless waste.

  I wanted to shout at him:" You're not   40    yet!"

  It is   41   sad that so many people cannot get beyond (摆脱) their pasts and live   42   the present. There are so many people like that talk show guest. There are people still  in  their  teen years   43    that their lives are over. There are people in their twenties who already think they have   44   the boat to success and happiness. There are people in their thirties and forties who sit around complaining that life has passed them by.  I want  to shout  to  them all:" Wake up! You're still  45  ! What have you done today?" If you want a happy  life, you can't dwell on(细想、纠缠于)your past   46  . If you want joy and love  in your  life, you have  to choose  them  today. God gives us a new chance at  life every  time we wake up in the morning. It is up to us to seize it.

  Today  47 be  the beginning of a new  life for each of us. We can choose  joy right now. We can share love today. We can  live  in delight starting at this moment. It doesn't matter how hard our past has been. Our present can be full of joy and our future can be full of 48   .  It doesn't matter  if we are eight 49   eighty--we can still make our  lives   50   . Life isn't over until your last heartbeat. Start today, then, to make your heart beat with joy, love, and light.

36. A. turned down B. turned off     C. turned on D. turned up

37. A. when    B. that    C. one      D. what

38. A. heard   B. found   C. seen     D. listened to

39. A. looked up   B. looked after     C. looked for D. looked at

40. A. death    B. dead    C. die D. died

41. A. so     B. so a    C. such D. such a

42. A. at     B. with    C. in D. to

43. A. think     B. thinking   C. thinks   D. to think

44. A. taken    B. caught    C. missed    D. lost

45. A. alive     B. living     C. lively     D. lovely

46. A. mistake   B. mistakes  C. wrong   D. ideas

47. A. must     B. mustn't     C. can't     D. can

48. A. pain  B. happiness      C. sadness D. challenge

49. A. and     B. to    C. or    D. between

50. A. wonder B. wondering     C. wondered D. wonderful

(改为反意疑问句) Nothing can stop us now．

　　Nothing can stop us now，__________?

Traveling to work by car gets more expensive today. People can do nothing about the world’s price of petrol(汽油). They have to work, so that they can pay. However, some people are trying to stop driving to work..

　 People have found out that it is a good idea to ride a bike to work. More and more people return to bikes.

　 Children often go tot school by bike. But now businessmen are going to work by bike, too. “The bike is easy to use,” says Molly, “and it is also very cheap. It is a good way for those who do business like me. You can buy thirty bikes at the price of a small car. A bike doesn’t use expensive petrol. A 10-year-old child can learn to use a bike. And most bikes can be used for a long time.”

　 Mr Brown goes to his hospital by bike every day. He says, “A bike doesn’t cost a lot of money, and most families can have two or more ones. Bike-riding is good for our health. Today most people get fat because they don’t get enough exercise. So I tell my patients(病人) to buy bikes. In addition, in big cities it’s usually quicker to travel by bike than by bus or by car. Drivers can’t do anything but get angry when there is a traffic jam.(交通堵塞).”

11. Some people don’t want to drive to work because _______________.

　 A. the cares are getting expensive　　　　 B. the petrol is getting expensive

　 C. the care are difficult to take care of　　 D. petrol is hard to buy

12. In the second paragraph(段落), “return to bikes” means ____________.

　 A. begin to ride bikes again　　　　　 B. give bikes back to others

　 C. go back by bike　　　　　　　　 D. borrow bike from others

13. After reading, we know that Molly is a _____________.

　 A. doctor　　　　 B. student　　　　 C. patient　　　　　 D. businesswoman

14. Mr Brow thinks that bike-riding has _________ good points.

　 A. two　　 B. three　　　 C. four　　　　 D. five

15. This passage tells us about _________________.

　 A. cars and petrol　 B. expensive petrol　

C. back to bike time　 D. bike-riding for a long life