A problem has been troubling me and I would like to share it with you. We seem to be living in a hugely difficult situation. And I don’t know if there is a solution. I am not even sure that it is a “problem”, but here it is.

   Let’s begin by looking at the world situation. We have argued that wars must be given up. But modern technologies have brought us to the point where weapons of mass destruction are becoming easier and cheaper to make . Now they are in the possession of a few large military powers. Before long, it is likely that other nations will also have the ability to develop and use these terrible weapons. If this happens, or when this happens, many nations have the ability to destroy other nations, and other nations probably will have time for retaliatory（报复性的）strikes. Under these conditions, there can be no winners, only losers.

   In spite of the terrible international situation, in our daily lives we place the highest value on winning. We are taught that “everybody loves a winner” and that “winning is everything”. Our sports teams are told that they must win. Our entertainment culture is based on winning. Contests are held to determine the winner. This becomes a matter of local and national pride. We are taught to win.

   In America, and in other western nations, children and adults are taught that to be successful, they must win. Of course, when there are “winners”, there must also be “losers”. We are conditioned to be either winners or losers.

   When there are winners. There are losers. There is nothing in between. This is what we are taught. It is part of our western culture.

   Our western societies praise winning. They do not consider “impasse(平局)”as a choice . A tie game, for example, is said to be like kissing you sister. It pleases no one, In most of our sports games, we have additional periods of time in order to avoid a “tie game”. In football it is called “sudden death” . Even our language is full of words against tie games. We call such games “deadlocks(困局)” or “stalemates（僵局）”.

60. What worries the author according to the passage?

A. Trying to be winners.     B. Developing terrible weapons

C. Destroying the world     D. Retaliatory strikes.

61.The author thinks the present world situation is _____

A. peaceful   B. serious   C. encouraging   D. astonishing

62. What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?

A. There are only winners in our daily lives.

B. Everyone must win in our daily lives.

C. We are forced to win in our daily lives

D. In our daily lives, winners are valued most.

63. The underlined part “kissing your sister” probably has the same meaning as ________

A. interesting  B. uninteresting   C. exciting   D. wrong

I remember a day when I was a little kid. I was making a sandwich in the kitchen when I noticed the date on one of the wine bottles.

“ Dad, dad!” I cried. “This wine is too old to drink.”

“ Son, hold on,” he said.

“ No, you can’t drink this tonight! This bottle of wine was made 10 years ago.”

“ Wait, let me tell you…”

“ Would you like me to throw it away from you?” I asked.

“ Son, wait a second,” he said. “Son, some wines get better over time. The longer you wait to drink it, the better it will be. Although this may seem strange, it is true.”

   When I was young, I didn’t have any understanding of what this meant, but now, this would have been very helpful to remember as I went through my teenage years.

   In our society, we forget this simple rule: The longer you want for certain things, the better they will be. But we want the best job as quickly as possible; we want to graduate from college in as few years as possible; we even speed through our homework just to chat with friends. When we do this, we lose something of great importance.

   We all want to get to the next step so quickly that perhaps we don’t get ready enough to get there. This has a negative effect on our society. When trying to go to the right college, we will do anything to get in and when we rush through our class-work, we may not study enough for the test, and end up failing. We need to be ready for whatever comes, ready for the unexpected. Wine gets better over time, so do the things in our paths of life.

1.Why did the author tell his father not to drink the bottle of wine?

A. Because it smelt terrible.      

B. Because it was mixed with something else.

C. Because his father drank too much that night.

D. Because it had been kept for years.

2.What the author’s father said __________.

A. made the author puzzled when he was a little child.

B. was too simple a rule to be meaningful to the author.

C. threw the author into deep thought then.

D. was an excuse to drink the wine.

3. In the author’s opinion, if we do things too quickly, we will __________.

A. do it better                          B. save much time

C. graduate from college more quickly    D. miss something useful to us in life

4. Which of the following best reflects the main idea of the passage?

   A. Well begun is half done.           B. More haste（匆忙）, less speed.

   C. Failure is the mother of success.  D.Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

I remember a day when I was a little kid. I was making a sandwich in the kitchen when I noticed the date on one of the wine bottles.
“ Dad, dad!” I cried. “This wine is too old to drink.”
“ Son, hold on,” he said.
“ No, you can’t drink this tonight! This bottle of wine was made 10 years ago.”
“ Wait, let me tell you…”
“ Would you like me to throw it away from you?” I asked.
“ Son, wait a second,” he said. “Son, some wines get better over time. The longer you wait to drink it, the better it will be. Although this may seem strange, it is true.”
When I was young, I didn’t have any understanding of what this meant, but now, this would have been very helpful to remember as I went through my teenage years.
In our society, we forget this simple rule: The longer you want for certain things, the better they will be. But we want the best job as quickly as possible; we want to graduate from college in as few years as possible; we even speed through our homework just to chat with friends. When we do this, we lose something of great importance.
We all want to get to the next step so quickly that perhaps we don’t get ready enough to get there. This has a negative effect on our society. When trying to go to the right college, we will do anything to get in and when we rush through our class-work, we may not study enough for the test, and end up failing. We need to be ready for whatever comes, ready for the unexpected. Wine gets better over time, so do the things in our paths of life.

1. 1.

   Why did the author tell his father not to drink the bottle of wine?

   1. A.
      Because it smelt terrible.
   2. B.
      Because it was mixed with something else.
   3. C.
      Because his father drank too much that night.
   4. D.
      Because it had been kept for years.
2. 2.

   What the author’s father said __________.

   1. A.
      made the author puzzled when he was a little child.
   2. B.
      was too simple a rule to be meaningful to the author.
   3. C.
      threw the author into deep thought then.
   4. D.
      was an excuse to drink the wine.
3. 3.

   In the author’s opinion, if we do things too quickly, we will __________.

   1. A.
      do it better
   2. B.
      save much time
   3. C.
      graduate from college more quickly
   4. D.
      miss something useful to us in life
4. 4.

   Which of the following best reflects the main idea of the passage?

   1. A.
      Well begun is half done.
   2. B.
      More haste（匆忙）, less speed.
   3. C.
      Failure is the mother of success.
   4. D.
      Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.