题目内容
He celebrated his (四十)birthday.
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Saturday 28 April, 2001: Dennis Tito was setting off on his holiday. Mr. Tito’s journey was certainly unusual! So was the transport he chose, and the price of his trip.
The 60-year-old multi-millionaire from New York was sitting on board a Russian spaceship. He was on a journey to the International Space Station. It might have been a routine trip for the two astronauts who were traveling with him, but for him it was certainly no ordinary journey. Dennis Tito was the first tourist ever in space, and he had paid the sum of $20 million to go there. As the spacecraft left the earth’s atmosphere, Tito drank a glass of fruit juice to celebrate and looked down at the earth’s blue-green surface. Two minutes later, he was sick. Luckily it was only a minor problem. He soon recovered, and from then on enjoyed a smooth journey. When he arrived at the space station, there was a big smile on his face. “A great trip!” he commented. “I love space.”
For a long time space travel was something for heroes. But all this is going to change. Companies like ProSpace are investing large amounts of money in space travel. They want space and space travel to belong to the public, not just governments. There are other plans, like voyages through space from one side of the world to the other. Maybe we will be able to depart from New York at nine o’clock in the morning, and arrive an hour later-- in Tokyo! Such a schedule would allow the business traveler to return to New York on the same day, and still have eight hours for a meeting!
【小题1】Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A.Business Travelers | B.Space Tourists | C.A Space Exploration | D.A Frightening Adventure |
| A.enjoyed his trip very much | B.was too sick to eat anything in space |
| C.suffered a lot during the trip | D.didn’t think the trip was worthwhile |
| A.Tito was the first American tourist in space. |
| B.Tito contributed all of his wealth to his space trip. |
| C.Tito visited the Russian Space Station during his trip. |
| D.Space travel has become a routine for Tito since then. |
| A.space travel will belong to the public instead of governments |
| B.airplanes will some day reach the speed of space vehicles |
| C.can will be able to circle the earth within less than an hour |
| D.travel between two places on earth will be made through space |
The Cost of Higher Education
Individuals (个人) should pay for their higher education.
A university education is of huge and direct benefit to the individual. Graduates earn more than non-graduates. Meanwhile, social mobility is ever more dependent on having a degree. However, only some people have it. So the individual, not the taxpayers, should pay for it. There are pressing calls on the resources (资源) of the government. Using taxpayers' money to help a small number of people to earn high incomes in the future is not one of them.
Full government funding (资助) is not very good for universities. Adam Smith worked in a Scottish university whose teachers lived off student fees. He knew and looked down upon 18th-century Oxford, where the academics lived comfortably off the income received from the government. Guaranteed salaries, Smith argued, were the enemy of hard work; and when the academics were lazy and incompetent, the students were similarly lazy.
If students have to pay for their education, they not only work harder, but also demand more from their teachers. And their teachers have to keep them satisfied. If that means taking teaching seriously, and giving less time to their own research interests, that is surely something to celebrate.
Many people believe that higher education should be free because it is good for the economy (经济). Many graduates clearly do contribute to national wealth, but so do all the businesses that invest (投资) and create jobs. If you believe that the government should pay for higher education because graduates are economically productive, you should also believe that the government should pay part of business costs. Anyone promising to create jobs should receive a gift of capital from the government to invest. Therefore, it is the individual, not the government, who should pay for their university education.
【小题1】 The underlined word "them" in Paragraph 2 refers to ______.
| A.taxpayers | B.pressing calls | C.college graduates | D.government resources |
| A.teachers are less satisfied | B.students are more demanding |
| C.students will become more competent | D.teachers will spend less time on teaching |
| A.argue against free university education | B.call on them to finance students' studies |
| C.encourage graduates to go into business | D.show their contribution to higher education |
Thanksgiving Day is special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.
Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest. On December 4, 1619, the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.
The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a three-day feast(盛宴). The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food.
In time, other colonies(殖民地)began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed(宣布)the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbors. But the Canadian thanks-giving Day falls on the second Monday in October.
【小题1】Thanksgiving Day is celebrated .
| A.in spring | B.summer |
| C.in autumn | D.in winter |
| A.some people from England | B.the American Indians |
| C.Sarah Josepha Hale | D.Governor Bradford |
A. in the U. S. A. B. in Great Britain
C. in Canada D. on some island off the Atlantic
【小题4】Which of the following is NOT true?
| A.Thanksgiving Day used to be a holiday to celebrate a good harvest. |
| B.Abraham Lincoln was not the first to decide on thanksgiving celebrations. |
| C.Thanksgiving Day is celebrated to express the American and Indian people’s thanks to God. |
| D.There’s little difference between the American way and the Canadian way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. |
A. how Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in the U. S. A.
B. how Thanksgiving Day came into being and the different ways it is celebrated
C. that Thanksgiving Day is in fact a harvest holiday
D. how the way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day changed with the time and places