On the first day of class, a graduate student from Xi’an Jiaotong University reminded me that, especially in China, “There are always two sides of a coin.” Experiencing China’s May 12 earthquake while living in Xi’an, Shanxi Province just north of the earthquake’s epicenter (地震的震中) in Sichuan with our two daughters, we have indeed seen both sides of what is beginning to be called China’s 5·12 disaster coin.
On television, in newspapers and through the Internet, we learned about the extent (巨大，重要性) of the destruction, and the statistics were horrific – over 69,000 confirmed (确认) dead, some 18,000 missing and more than 374,000 injured.
When we turn off the television and discuss what we as a family have learned from the events of the last several weeks, we find ourselves marveling (觉得惊奇) at how the Chinese are confidently but quietly dealing with this unprecedented tragedy – a disaster that continues with every aftershocks, mudslide and potential flood.
It seems like every school, organization and business is raising money for Sichuan, and young people all over the country are out in the streets looking for donations or giving blood at the many mobile blood vans that are out in full force.
Those who cannot give, like the 75-year-old woman from Sichuan, are volunteering or giving in other ways. An impressive example is the Sichuan policewoman with a newborn child who was nursing many infants whose mothers were killed in the quake.
The national concern over the fate of affected children has been moving. On May 22, there were 1697 orphans, but on June 24, the number dropped to 558; and rest assured, there are more people willing to adopt than there are orphans from Sichuan.
So, while no country or person ever welcomes tragedy, especially something of this magnitude (程度), the earthquake has taught us a great deal about China’s true character and its people’s resilience (韧性). It has also reminded us that the other side of even a dark coin may hold the promise of a brighter future,
(The author is an American Professor of International Relations at Xi’an Jiaotong University.)
【小题1】
When the 5·12 earthquake happened, the author and his family were ________.
  

Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet .... We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brains to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale(秤)  instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.
【小题1】From Paragraph 1, we learn that ______.

OUR PROMISE

Making your stay a complete success is our goal. Just let our manager on duty of front-desk staff know if any part of your stay isn’t satisfactory. We promise to make it right or you won’t pay for that part of your stay.

FORGET SOMETHING?

If you forget to pack any standard toiletry item(tooth brush, toothpaste, shaving cream, razor or comb), just call the front-desk and we’ll get you a free replacement right away.

PLEASE REUSE THE TOWELS

We invite you to join with us to save water by using your towels more than once.

In addition to decreasing water and energy waste, you can help us reduce the amount of waste water that must be recycled within our community.

Please hang the towels up if you wish to join in the program----if not, simply leave them on the floor.  

We appreciate your help!

PLEASE CHANGE THE SHEETS TODAY

The Project Planet Program is an effort of this hotel to protect the environment by saving water and decreasing waste water. If you are staying with us more than one night, as part of the Project Planet Program, we will wash your sheets every three days.

If you would prefer not to join in this program, simply hang this card on the outside of your door and sheets will be changed right away. As always sheets are automatically changed after every guest checks out .

We appreciate your help!

61. We can find this passage in a ________ in a hotel.

A. café bar        B. front-desk    C. fitness center     D. guest room

62.If you forget your comb, you can         .

A. buy one in the hotel shop    B. replace one with a tooth brush

C. phone the front-desk to get one D. go in person and get one at the front desk

63. Leaving the towels on the floor means that        .

A. you want to join in the program B. you want the room-maid to hang it up

C. you need them collected and washed         D. you want to use them more than once

64. What is the Project Planes Program trying to do?

A. Make your bed sheets cleaner.   B. Work for a better environment.

C. Help guests checking out faster.         D. Persuade guests to stay longer.

Being a good parent is harder now than it has ever been before. In pressurized modern lives, demands to be a fulfilled individual, a good partner and a good worker, take no account of being a good parent. We haven’t left space for the nurturing parents who are expected to provide what children need. As a result, many families in the western world just don’t work.

       Something will have to change. With luck, people in the future will only have children if they really want them. That should mean parenthood is seen as a much more positive promise than it is now, that parents are socially supported, and are admired for doing a good job.

       The problem is that in the last generation or so we’ve come to assume that women should want and be able to everything that by tradition men have done at the same time as pretty well everything that by tradition women have done. And it’s just not possible. Since adopting a male life style is demonstrably only another form of submission（顺从）, quite a number of highly educated and economically privileged（优越的）women are now choosing to take career breaks so as to be at home with their children for longer than that poor 18 weeks.

       The most welcoming trend in parenting is that men are participating more and more, even that is not free of conflict, however. Intellectually（理智上）, women want men to be equal parents and do their share. But there’s often a contradictory（矛盾的）emotion because children are the last fort of the female power in the family. “I want him to help me but this is my region and being better at it is one of the new things I’ve got as a female.” In truth, although they haven’t had generations of practice, there’s no reason why men can’t raise children as well as women. Men left to cope after bereavement or divorce, as well as some who take on the role of principal career within a partnership, are already doing it.

16.Why is it more difficult today to be good parents?

       A. Because parents don’t want to face the pressure of rearing children.

       B. Because children are in dependent and don’t need to be taken care of.

       C. Because husbands and wives have little time to talk to each other.

       D. Because people want to fulfill their own dreams, leaving no time to look after children.

17. We can learn from the passage that _______.

       A. people in future will not be as interested in children as people at present

       B. parenthood will be considered as a positive commitment as it is now

       C. women do better in rearing children than men

       D. parents will receive admiration for taking good care of children

18. Nowadays, a lot of highly educated and economically privileged women ________.

       A. tend to stay at home for more than 18 weeks

       B. tend to adopt a male life style

       C. tend to quit their jobs and stay at home

       D. tend to be submissive wives

19. It seems that in parenting , women ________.

       A. are contradictory in their thoughts.                B.demand equality between sexes

       C. tend to leave children to their husbands.         D. often quarrel with their husbands

20. The underlined word “bereavement” in the para 4 probably means _________.

       A. departure of his wife.                                          B. death of his wife

       C. return of his wife                                         D. annoyance of his wife

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago and suddenly her husband died of a heart attack. One day, about a week after her husband’s       , the teacher said, “Before class is over, I would like to share with all of you a (n)        in life that is unrelated to this class, but I feel it is very       .”

 “Each of us is put here on        to learn, share, love and appreciate. None of us knows when this fantastic        will end. It can be        at any moment. Perhaps we must make the most out of every single       .” Her eyes beginning to       , she went on, “So I would like you all to make me a(n)       . From now on, on your way, find something beautiful to       . It doesn’t have to be something you see—it could be a sweet smell or it could be the sound of the      leaves. Please look for these things, and cherish (珍视) them.”

The class was completely quiet. We all        our books and got out of the classroom       . That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from        than I had that whole term. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and        what she had said, and I try to appreciate all of those things that        we all ignore.

Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today.      on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to        an ice cream. For as we get       , it is not the things we did that we often feel       , but the things we didn’t do.      

1.A. death          B. illness              C. news                D. birthday

2.A. plan   B.answer           C. lesson                     D. suggestion

3.A. clear       B.sweet             C. different                          D. important

4.A. foot        B.earth                C. business                    D. holiday

5.A. game      B.experience               C. story                 D. party

6.A. taken away       B.worked out           C. put off           D. held up

7.A. place      B.word                 C. bill             D. day

8.A.dry           B.open     C. water             D. roll

9.A.exam  B.promise C. date                D. trip

10.A.notice            B.eat  C. learn              D. carry

11.A.dead             B.dirty         C. growing                   D. falling

12.A. turned over       B.brought in           C. picked up              D. passed on

13.A. carefully       B.quietly              C. patiently                    D. happily

14.A. school           B.hospital             C. factory                      D. church

15.A. hear              B. write             C. remember            D. understand

16.A. finally           B. never              C. unusually              D. sometimes

17.A. Walk              B. Live      C. Work              D. Study

18.A. spare             B. get        C. make              D. smell

19.A. closer           B. taller      C. older              D. stronger

20.A.excited           B. surprised                    C. proud                     D. sorry