The host poured the tea into the cup and placed it on the small table in front of his guests, who were a father and daughter, and put the cover on the cup. Apparently thinking of something, he hurried into the inner room, leaving the thermos (热水瓶) on the table. His two guests heard a cupboard opening.
They remained sitting in the sitting room, the ten-year-old daughter looking at the flowers outside the window, the father just about to take his cup, when the crash came, right there in the sitting room. Something was hopelessly broken.
It was the thermos, which had fallen to the floor. The girl looked over her shoulder, shocked, staring. It was mysterious. Neither of them had touched it, not even a bit. True, it hadn't stood steadily when their host placed it on the table, but it hadn't fallen then.
The explosion caused the host to rush back. Gawking at the steaming floor, the host said "It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter!"
The father started to say something. Then he said softly, "Sorry, I touched it and it fell."
"It doesn't matter," the host said.
When they left the house, the daughter said, "Daddy, did you touch it?"
"No. But it stood so close to me. "
"But you didn't touch it. I saw your reflection in the window glass. "
The father laughed. "What then would you give as the cause of its fall?"
"The thermos fell by itself. The floor is not smooth. Daddy, why did you say that you …"
"That won't do, girl. It sounds more acceptable when I say I knocked it down. There are things which people accept less the more you defend them. The truer the story you tell, the less true it sounds. "
The daughter was lost in silence for a while. Then she said, "Can you explain it only in this way?"
"Only in this way," her father said.
56. Which statement is a possible theme of this story?
A. People rarely tell the truth.
B. You can't always make people believe the truth.
C. If you defend yourself, people will believe you.
D. People should take the blame for what they didn't do.
57. It can be inferred from the story that the father _______.
A. didn't know the host well                    B. felt satisfied that he didn't tell the truth
C. was sorry that he told the truth                        D. didn't think the host would believe the truth
58. From the story we know that the daughter ________.
A. thought her father should tell the truth         B. didn't know why the thermos fell
C. knocked over the thermos                  D. strongly objected to her father's explanation
59. The underlined "gawking at" probably means _______.
A. staring at with anger                  B. looking at curiously
C. glancing at hopelessly                 D. looking at in a dull way

When did you last visit a shopping mall? In many places, the answer would be “last weekend”. Some people go even more often. Why? For one thing, malls offer goods and services that people need all in one place : food, clothing, things for their houses, entertainment,and even medical services. So, are mallsone of the highlights of modern civilization? Environmental activists would say “No!” They would go even further and say that consumer behavior is causing a huge environmental disaster. They cause consumers of ignorance of the side effect of their shopping—urban sprawl (城市杂乱无序拓展的地区).
Social scientists agree that patterns of development have changed the landscape a great deal in the last half century. Prior to 1950,most people lived in towns or cities and either walked to work or took public transportation. Only very wealthy people had automobiles. Farmers lived in rural areas or isolated villages and came into town only when they needed things they couldn’t produce themselves. If you gazed at the landscape you would see towns surrounded by countryside. Then a massive change occurred.
Automobiles became affordable and people were quick to adopt them. Now ambitious workers could live in the suburbs, the areas just outside cities, which started to grow rapidly. As long as there was lots of cheap land in the suburbs, no one paid much attention to the usage of that land. Malls, fast food restaurants, cinemas, and car dealerships spread out in large, flat buildings. These one - storey buildings and their parking lot took up a great deal of space. Well - meaning farmers thought they were better off selling their land than growing crops. In ignorance, no one realized that once the land was built up in urban sprawl, the good farming land would be ruined forever. There was no way to preserve it.
Only in recent years have people come to mourn the old way of life as they have developed insight into the problems of unconditional growth. Now people realize that urban sprawl has come with serious environmental problems. The negative aspects of sprawl include air and water pollution, loss of agricultural land, traffic jams, and the death of businesses in the old town centers. Many scholars think the time has come to analyze the problems better so we can develop appropriate policies to control further sprawl. Some think the best way to do is to educate citizens about their priceless environment.
【小题1】What is mainly discussed in the passage?

A.Urban sprawl B.Weekend fun
C.New automobiles D.Isolated villages
【小题2】Who do activists blame for environmental problems?
A.Endangered animals. B.Unthinking shoppers.
C.Shopping mall owners.D.Ambitious farmers.
【小题3】What does the underlined word “They” refer to in the first paragraph?.
A.Activists B.Malls. C.Farmers. D.Scientists.
【小题4】What is the scholars’ attitude toward urban sprawl?
A.Respectful. B.Pessimistic. C.Disapproving. D.Doubtful.

What I like to advise people is to find out what it is that makes them happy. What do you love to do? If you truly love what you do just go ahead and try to make a living by doing it. People will throw money at you to do it. But you will always have to work hard at it. I have to draw every single day of my life. I have to draw about 20 ideas. My advice is to put aside a certain amount of time every day and make you draw or whatever, especially when you don’t feel like it. Only in this way will you be able to perfect your talent.

The first step you take is to go to your local library and ask for the publications issued in the current years. When you get these publications, try to find the names of the top people concerned and their presidents. After you find these, write down their names and addresses. Keep this list and update it every year. Next thing you want to do is to create at least 40 cartoons. Get a grid(格子) from one of the strips in the newspapers, enlarge it to whatever size you wish and draw inside this grid. Now take the best 20 of your ideas and make them into finished pieces. To do this, you would want to copy them in ink because if you were a professional cartoonist, that was what you should do. Now you can reduce the size of the finished cartoons to fit onto a regular comic’s page. By comparing yours with the others already in print, it gives you a good idea of clarity to your cartoon.

The next step is to write letters to presidents of the publication. In the letters, explain who you think would read your work, or in other words, what group do you think you would target. After you complete these, send all of your information enclosed with letters in the appropriate envelope.

Now as soon as you send out these letters, start to create a brand new strip with all new characters. Don’t get married to one idea because if your idea gets turned down then you will give up. And always remember. If you receive a rejection from any of them, keep in mind that you are working on something better. You will be working on something new and more exciting and the rejection letter will not have any impact. With this in mind…

1.What is the advice from the writer in the first paragraph when you want to succeed in your life?

A. Stop doing anything until you find something quite suitable for your future career.

B. Put aside a certain amount of time every day to consider how to make a living.

C. Make a living by something that you truly like to do as your profession and work hard at it.

D. Perfect your talent only by drawing some cartoons.

2.The purpose of writing a letter to the president was to ____.

A. get some money to support the later career

B. enclose the information on how to become cartoonists with the letter

C. focus his attention on the work

D. explain who would be the readers of the work

3. The underlined phrase “get married to one idea” in the last paragraph probably refers to ______.

A. having a strong desire to get married

B. fixing all attention on one idea

C. marrying someone is a good ideas

D. refusing one idea to get married

 

The host poured the tea into the cup and placed it on the small table in front of his guests, who were a father and daughter, and put the cover on the cup. Apparently thinking of something, he hurried into the inner room, leaving the thermos (热水瓶) on the table. His two guests heard a cupboard opening.

They remained sitting in the sitting room, the ten-year-old daughter looking at the flowers outside the window, the father just about to take his cup, when the crash came, right there in the sitting room. Something was hopelessly broken.

It was the thermos, which had fallen to the floor. The girl looked over her shoulder, shocked, staring. It was mysterious. Neither of them had touched it, not even a bit. True, it hadn't stood steadily when their host placed it on the table, but it hadn't fallen then.

The explosion caused the host to rush back. Gawking at the steaming floor, the host said "It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter!"

The father started to say something. Then he said softly, "Sorry, I touched it and it fell."

"It doesn't matter," the host said.

When they left the house, the daughter said, "Daddy, did you touch it?"

"No. But it stood so close to me. "

"But you didn't touch it. I saw your reflection in the window glass. "

The father laughed. "What then would you give as the cause of its fall?"

"The thermos fell by itself. The floor is not smooth. Daddy, why did you say that you …"

"That won't do, girl. It sounds more acceptable when I say I knocked it down. There are things which people accept less the more you defend them. The truer the story you tell, the less true it sounds. "

The daughter was lost in silence for a while. Then she said, "Can you explain it only in this way?"

"Only in this way," her father said.

56. Which statement is a possible theme of this story?

A. People rarely tell the truth.

B. You can't always make people believe the truth.

C. If you defend yourself, people will believe you.

D. People should take the blame for what they didn't do.

57. It can be inferred from the story that the father _______.

A. didn't know the host well                    B. felt satisfied that he didn't tell the truth

C. was sorry that he told the truth                        D. didn't think the host would believe the truth

58. From the story we know that the daughter ________.

A. thought her father should tell the truth         B. didn't know why the thermos fell

C. knocked over the thermos                  D. strongly objected to her father's explanation

59. The underlined "gawking at" probably means _______.

A. staring at with anger                  B. looking at curiously

C. glancing at hopelessly                 D. looking at in a dull way

 

When did you last visit a shopping mall? In many places, the answer would be “last weekend”. Some people go even more often. Why? For one thing, malls offer goods and services that people need all in one place : food, clothing, things for their houses, entertainment,and even medical services. So, are malls one of the highlights of modern civilization? Environmental activists would say “No!” They would go even further and say that consumer behavior is causing a huge environmental disaster. They cause consumers of ignorance of the side effect of their shopping—urban sprawl (城市杂乱无序拓展的地区).

Social scientists agree that patterns of development have changed the landscape a great deal in the last half century. Prior to 1950,most people lived in towns or cities and either walked to work or took public transportation. Only very wealthy people had automobiles. Farmers lived in rural areas or isolated villages and came into town only when they needed things they couldn’t produce themselves. If you gazed at the landscape you would see towns surrounded by countryside. Then a massive change occurred.

Automobiles became affordable and people were quick to adopt them. Now ambitious workers could live in the suburbs, the areas just outside cities, which started to grow rapidly. As long as there was lots of cheap land in the suburbs, no one paid much attention to the usage of that land. Malls, fast food restaurants, cinemas, and car dealerships spread out in large, flat buildings. These one - storey buildings and their parking lot took up a great deal of space. Well - meaning farmers thought they were better off selling their land than growing crops. In ignorance, no one realized that once the land was built up in urban sprawl, the good farming land would be ruined forever. There was no way to preserve it.

Only in recent years have people come to mourn the old way of life as they have developed insight into the problems of unconditional growth. Now people realize that urban sprawl has come with serious environmental problems. The negative aspects of sprawl include air and water pollution, loss of agricultural land, traffic jams, and the death of businesses in the old town centers. Many scholars think the time has come to analyze the problems better so we can develop appropriate policies to control further sprawl. Some think the best way to do is to educate citizens about their priceless environment.

1. What is mainly discussed in the passage?

A. Urban sprawl                       B. Weekend fun

C. New automobiles                       D. Isolated villages

2.Who do activists blame for environmental problems?

A. Endangered animals.            B. Unthinking shoppers.

C. Shopping mall owners.           D. Ambitious farmers.

3.What does the underlined word “They” refer to in the first paragraph?.

A. Activists    B. Malls.     C. Farmers.     D. Scientists.

4.What is the scholars’ attitude toward urban sprawl?

A. Respectful.   B. Pessimistic.   C. Disapproving.    D. Doubtful.

 

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