US President Barack Obama may have just made life more difficult for cigarette makers, but he still smokes every now and then in secret.
Obama, who has publicly struggled to quit smoking, said he still hasn't completely kicked the habit even after signing a law this week that will likely set tough new rules for the tobacco industry.
“As a former smoker I constantly struggle with it.Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes.Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No,” Obama said at a news conference.
"I don't do it in front of my kids, I don't do it in front of my family.I would say that I am 95 percent cured, but there are times where I mess up,” he said.
The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products.
At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90 percent of smokers who took up the habit before their 18th birthday.
"Once you go down this path it's something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law we signed is so important because what we don't want is kids going down that path in the first place,” he said at the news conference.
Nearly 20 percent of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases.
(1)
According to the passage, Obama _________.
[ ]
A.
was cured of a disease
B.
had an accident
C.
made Americans’ life difficult
D.
signed a law this week
(2)
What does the underlined sentence mean in the third paragraph?
[ ]
A.
Have I dropped from the wagon?
B.
Have I stopped smoking completely?
C.
Do I still smoke sometimes?
D.
Do I still smoke as much as before?
(3)
Which of the follow is NOT TRUE?
[ ]
A.
Nearly 90 percent of the population of America smoke.
B.
Nearly 90 percent of the smokers of America began to smoke before they turned 18.
C.
Nearly 1/5 of Americans smoke.
D.
Smoking kills about 440,000 people a year in the USA.
Our boat floated on, between walls of forest too thick to allow us a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew from the map that our river must from time to time be passing through chains of hills which crossed the jungle plains.Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed:where the jungle did not actually spread right down into the river, banks of soft mud prevented us going ashore.In any case, what would we have sailed by landing?The country was full of snakes and other dangerous creatures, and the jungle was so thick that one would be able to advance only slowly, cutting one’s way with knives the whole way.So we stayed in the boat, hoping we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to civilization.
We lived on fish, caught with home-made net of string(we had no hooks), and fruits and nuts we could pick up out of the water.As we had no fire, we had to eat everything, including the fish, raw I had never tasted raw fish before, and I must say I did not much enjoy the experience; perhaps sea fish which do not live in the mud are less tasteless.After eating my raw fish, I lay back and dreamed of such things as fried chicken and rice, and ice-cream.In the never-ending damp heat of the jungle, ice-cream was a particularly frequent dream.
As for water, there was a choice:we could drink the muddy river water, or die of thirst.We drank the water.Men who had just escaped what had appeared to be certain death lose all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water.In fact, none of us suffered from any illness as a result.
One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us.We did not wish to risk being taken prisoners a second time:we might not be so lucky to escape in a stolen boat again.
(1)
What they could see in the boat was only ________.
[ ]
A.
high wall
B.
villagers from time to time
C.
vast land
D.
heavy woods
(2)
They couldn’t land because ________.
[ ]
A.
the mud on the shore was too soft
B.
the forest was too thick to let them go through
C.
they could not find the mark on the map
D.
they could not find anyone to lead them out of the forest.
(3)
The passage infers that the forest was ________.
[ ]
A.
rich of fruits and animals to be served as food
B.
not very thick as they could advance slowly by cutting the branches
C.
full of various dangerous beings
D.
full of ancient trees
(4)
The most proper title for this passage might be ________.
[ ]
A.
Escape
B.
Scenes of a River
C.
How to Survive on a boat
D.
A New Experience
阅读理解。
Congratulations!You are Times person of the year!
Previous winners have included Adolf Hitler, Bill Gates and Ayatollah Khomeini.This year it is you.
Time magazine has named”You”as its”Person of the Year”in recognition of the way that ordinary internet users have revolutionized the media through blogs, file-sharing and websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube and MySpace.The magazine designed special cover——a white keyboard with a mirror for a computer screen where buyers can see their reflection——for the issue, reflecting the importance of user-generated(使用者自创)Internet content as a driving force in the modern world.
User-generated content on websites such as You Tube has proved the latest twist(转折)in the Internet revolution.You Tube has attracted millions of users and earned its founders $1.65 billion when it was bought by Google earlier this year.
Normally, the magazine describes its person of the year not necessarily as an honor, but as”the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or for ill, and represented what was important about the year”.Mr.Stengel said in an interview that to select the”Person of the Year”is to look for someone who’s a symbol.
The magazine did cite(提名)26”People Who Mattered”, from North Korean leader Kim Jong II to Pope Benedict XVI(教皇本笃十六世)to the troika(三人组合)of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the past.And in 2005, the winners were Bill and Melinda Gates and rock star Bono, who were cited for their charitable(慈善的)work aimed at reducing global poverty and improving world health.It was not the first time that the magazine went away from naming an actual person for its”Person of the Year”.In 1966, the 25-and-under generation was cited; in 1975, American women were named; and in 1982, the computer was chosen.
(1)
“You”, the Time magazine“Person of the Year”of the year, refers to anyone ________.
[ ]
A.
who reads this updated magazine
B.
who surfs the Internet
C.
who knows the result of the selection
D.
who holds an important position
(2)
The fashionable character of the Internet revolution is ________.
[ ]
A.
to search information on the Internet
B.
to use the Internet to make money
C.
to be cited for“Person of the Year”
D.
to create content onto the Internet
(3)
The usual qualification of“Person of the Year”is that a person or persons must ________.
[ ]
A.
do the most good to the world in the year
B.
live up to the expectation of the world
C.
really affect the world the most in the year
D.
help the world move ahead in the year
(4)
Which of the following is true?
[ ]
A.
U.S.newly-elected President Obama is cited for“Person of the Year”.
B.
The couple of Gates were cited not for their contributions to the Internet.
C.
“Person of the Year”must be a prize of a person or a group.
D.
A pop star is unlikely to be cited for the“Person of the Year”.