It was the first
part of December and the frozen ground was covered with snow. My little girl
said to me, “Daddy can we have that tree we saw on our hike through the 36 last summer, for our Christmas tree?”
My 37 little girl had a bad accident in
the autumn, and she would be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Wanting to 38 my child, I did all I could. I woke
a little earlier than usual and, being winter, it was still dark. I tied the
old workhorse to the sled (雪橇)and 39 for the woods.
As I 40 the forest, it was beautiful; the 41 branches of the trees were hardly
supporting the snow that has fallen on them. The poor old horse was walking
along slowly with heavy steps. There were 42 he would step in deep snow and 43 to his stomach but the sled stayed
on top of the snow. ‘Oh how beautiful nature is’, I thought to myself, as I
watched the many 44 going by me.
I had to find that
tree, 45 I knew that my little girl’s heart
was 46 on it. I went about five miles into
the forest, and there it was, the tree that my poor little girl wanted for a
Christmas tree! I chopped it down and 47 it on the sled.
On the way back to
the farm, I was even more pleased with Mother Nature; she had48 a Christmas tree that my
daughter had wanted. 49 was even more beautiful, so I
began 50 .
When I got to the
house and 51 the tree, which I was so proud of,
in and 52 it up for my girl, she 53 up from her wheelchair and started 54 . I let go of the 55 and knelt down in front of her.
“What’s the matter
darling?” I asked her.
“It’s beautiful
daddy, but what a shame that you cut this beautiful tree down, it was so happy
growing in the forest!”
The Festival of Cultures is an
annual event to celebrate the wide range of cultures found in our great
state. People representing 40 cultural groups will share their traditions and
customs. Here are just a few of the festival’s many activities.
Crafts: See
the fine art of basket weaving from Vietnam and Zimbabewe. Watch the
delicate art of making paper umbrellas from Thailand
and the decorative craft of paperl picado, or paper cutting, from Mexico.
All craft demonstrations provide a firsthand view of how things are made. You
will appreciate the process involved in making these products.
Music and
Dance: Experience musical instruments that you have never heard before.
Listening to the music of a sho from Japan,
a bull-roarer from Australia,
a sitar from India,
and a chakay from Tailand. You will also be entertained by folk dances from
around the world, such as the troika from Russia
and the mayim mayim from Israel.
From 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. on August 14, special folk-dancing classes for
children will be offered. Children ranging in age from 6 ? 8 can learn the
kinderpolka from Germany.
Children ranging in age from 9 ? 12 can learn the raspa from Mexico.
Storytelling:
Listen for hours as professional storytellers charm you with captivating
tales. Fables, folktales, and ballads from various countries will be told. By
popular demand, Gwendolyn Washington, a famous African American storyteller,
is back.
Food: Enjoy
irresistible foods from other countries, such as gyros from Greece, seafood paella from Spain, crepes from France,
and tandoori chicken from India.
These tasty dishes will be difficult to pass up.
Tickets August
14
Adults
$3
Ages 13 ? 18
$2
Ages 12 and under
Free
Adults
$3
Ages 13 ? 18 $2
Ages 6 ? 12
$ 1
Ages 6 and under Free
The festival of Cultures is sponsored by the World Marketplace,
For more information about the festival, call (800) 555 ? 0199.
56．Which of the following are from Mexico?
A．The paper cutting and troika. B．The kinderpolka and sitar.
C．The paperl picado and the raspo. D．The mayim mayim and the gyros.
57．A family with two children at the age of 8 and 16 are going to the
festival on August 12. How much money will they pay for the festival?
A．$5. B．$6. C．$8. D．$9.
58．What do we know about the festival?
A．Children will have a chance to learn different folk-dancing.
B．Storyteller Gwendolyn is invited to the festival for the first time.
C．People will be offered opportunities to play musical instruments.
D．Visitors can make paper umbrellas from their first- hand experience.
59．What’s the purpose of writing this passage?
A．To advertise for the World Marketplace.
B．To introduce a wide range of cultural traditions.
C．To explain the great significance of popularizing the festival.
D．To persuade readers to attend the festival held in the CityPark.
B
A Magical Experience
One hot August
afternoon, Deena Hoagland and her son Joe sat on a floating platform at Dolphins
Plus, a marine（海洋）center near their
home in Florida. Nearby, a large, powerful, six-hundred-pound dolphin circled
to study the mother and her child. Suddely, it splashed the Hoaglands with water.
That is when something amazing happened. Three-year-old Joe Hoagland smiled.
Sitting with Joe on her lap, Deena smiled, too, as her heart leapt with joy. It
was the first sign of hope she had seen in Joe since his stroke（中風(fēng)）six weeks earlier.
Joe Hoagland was
born with a rare heart condition that had forced him to spend much of his first
three years of life in hospitals. After a series of open-heart surgeries, Joe
seemed to be doing better, but the last surgery on his heart resulted in a
stroke, which left him unable to move one side and to see out of one eye.
Worse still, the spirit
of the child, who had bravely battled his illness until then was seemingly
broken. Afraid of his doctors and unwilling to participate in efforts at
physical therapy（治療）, Joe grew
listless, losing interest even in his favorite toys.
Having heard of a
new therapeutic approach termed “dolphin-assisted therapy,” Decna phoned
Dolphins Plus and asked permission to bring her son along. There Joe met met
Fonzie, the playful dolphin. With each passing visit, Koe seemed to make more
progress. Before long, he was regaining some movement on his left side.
Dolphins Plus trainers urged Joe to get into the water and swim with his new
friend. Joe, however, was reluctant. Gradually, though, Joe became more
comfortable with the large dolphin, and by mid-September, Joe was swimming with
his friends.
Over the next two
years, Joe fully recovered from the paralysis and partial blindness that his
doctors thought irreversible. Now a healthy, active teenager, Joe lives a life
similar to any of his friends. He visits and swims frequently with his friend
Fonzie and helps his parent with Island Dolphin Care. Deena started Island
Dolphin Care to work with Dolphins Plus to share the benefits of dolphin
therapy with other special-needs children and their parents.
60．Dcena Hoagland smiled when Fonzie splashed Joe with water because.
A．the dolphin’s action is amazing B．Joe’s reaction brought her hope
C．she was affected by Joe’s joy D．she realized Joe recovered
61．Paragraph 2-4 are written to.
A．expose the dangers of strokes
B．identify the problems Joe faced
C．describe Joe’s recovery from beginning to end
D．show readers the process of “dolphin-assisted therapy”
62．What does the underlined word mean in paragraph 3?
A．a(chǎn)ngry and inflexible B．more mature and silent
C．lacking energy and concern D．cautious and shy
63．We may conclude from the passage that.
A．dolphin therapy has helped many children to improve their lives
B．Joe recovered faster because of his desire to live with Fonzie
C．doctors’ mistake during his surgeries brought Joe great pain
D．his mother’s company contributes greatly to Joe’s recovery
C
It was a lovely day
and Stella was enjoying the sunshine with her two children when a young boy
approached her son and pushed him to the ground.
“I’d watched him for
a little while and my son was the fifth child he’d shoved,” she says. “I went
over to them, picked up my son, turned to the boy and said, firmly, ‘No, we don’t
push”. What happened next was unexpected. “The boy’s mother ran toward me,”
Stella says, “I thought she was coming over to apologize, but instead she
started shouting at me for disciplining her child . Was I supposed to sit back
while her kid did whatever he wanted, hurting other children in the process?
Getting your own
children to play nice is difficult enough. Dealing with other people’s children
has become a minefield.
“Kids aren’t all
raised the same,” agrees Professor Naomi White of MonashUniversity.
“But there is still an idea that they’re the possessions of the parents. We see
our children as an extension of ourselves, so if you’re saying that my child is
behaving inappropriately, then that’s somehow a criticism（批評）of me.”
In those
circumstances, it’s difficult to know whether to approach the child directly or
the parent first. There are two schools of thought.
“I’d go to the child
first,” says Andrew Fuller, author of Tricky Kids. Usually a quiet reminder
that ‘we don’t do that here’ is enough. Kids have finely tuned antennae（直覺）for how to behave in different setting. ” He points out bringing it
up with the parent first may make them feel overlooked, which could caused
problems. Of course, approaching the children first can bring its own
overlooked, which could cause problems. Of course, approaching the child first
can bring its own headaches, too. This is why White recommends that you
approach the parents first. “Raise your concerns with the parents if they’re there
and ask them to deal with it.,” she says.
Asked how to
approach a parent in this situation, psychologist Meredith Fuller answers “Explain
your needs as well as stressing the importance of the friendship. Begin your
remarks with something like ‘I know you’ll think I’m silly but in my house I
don’t want…’” He doesn’t believe that we should be afraid of dealing with other
people’s kids. “Look at kids that aren’t your own as a potential minefield,” he
says. He recommends that we don’t stay silent over inappropriate behavior,
particularly with regular visitors.
64．What did Stella do after the young boy pushed her son to the ground?
A．She made an apology to his mother.
B．She took her own boy away angrily.
C．She shouted to the boy to discipline him.
D． She told him his
behavior was unacceptable.
65．What does the author say about dealing with other people’s children?
A．It’s important not to hurt them in any way.
B．It’s no use trying to stop their wrongdoing.
C．It’s advisable to treat them as one’s own kids.
D．It’s possible for one to get into lots of trouble.
66．According to professor Naomi White, what will the parents probably
do when other people find fault with their kids?
A．They will feel hurt as well.
B．They will scold their kids.
C．They will lose control of themselves.
D．They will defend their child successfully.
67．According to Andre Fuller, what should one do when seeing other
people’s kids misbehave?
A．Express dissatisfaction to their parents politely.
B．Make comments on inappropriate behavior.
C．Talk to the kids directly in a mild way.
D．Stress the importance of friendship.
D
All consumer problems solved
One of these days, I
will call up the courage to telephone my broadband service provider to find out
why I am unable to read my office
e-mail from home. I am not looking forward to it; my last call was answered by
someone who clearly could not wait to get rid of me.
Why is everything so
difficult? We can now buy a huge range of electronic products at ever-lower
prices. We can compare prices online and have goods delivered to our door. And
we can do all that in the certain knowledge that what arrives will not work.
At least I know I am
not alone in these problems. James Womack and Daniel Jones in the Harvard
Business Review ask : “Why does consumption ? which should be easy and
satisfying ? require so much time and energy?”
The answer to all
these problems, they say, is lean consumption（精益消費(fèi)）. Their idea is an extension of lean production, as first practiced
by Toyota.
Workers who saw faults occurring could stop the assembly line (生產(chǎn)線)to ensure they were corrected and this solves the faults
permanently. They argue that the same principles can be applied to solve
consumers’ problems today.
How would it work ?
Take help lines, for example. At present, they try to solve problems after they
have occurred. They do not do it very well, either. Help line workers are
rewarded for their “efficiency”, in other words how many callers they deal with
? which is why they are so eager to move on to the next one. Help lines should
do more that help people with problems, the writers say. The help line staff
should use the calls to identify common problems, which can then be solved ?
equal to the stopping of the Toyota
line.
“This same concept
can be applied to the process of consumption, ”the writers say. “For example,
why can’t a single provider solve a customer’s problems by evaluating his
specific needs and then determining the best equipment, software and services?
The provider could then obtain, fix, take care of, upgrade and replace the required
articles for a standard fee.”
The method the
writers are recommending could improve the processes, get rid of problems and
lower the cost of consumption. Let us hope it happens soon.
68．The author doesn’t want to call his broadband service provider
because.
A．it will take a long time
B．he doesn’t expect them to be helpful
C．it will be difficult to explain the problem
D．he is afraid to be looked down upon
69．How did Toyota
deal with faults in the producing process?
A．Faults were dealt with after accidents.
B．The assembly line was shut down more and more often.
C．Problems were identified and corrected during the process.
D．Workers were required to find fault with each other’s performances.
70．Which of the following actions can be called “l(fā)ean consumption”?
A．Providers try to save the consumers’ time and trouble.
B．Producers correct and solve faults during the production.
C．Producers serve their customers for a standard fee.
D．Providers set up a help line to give advice to customers.
71．The author believes that lean consumption would.
A．increase the number of help lines
B．make life easier for consumers
C．result in consumers paying more fees
D．be more time-consuming for the customers
E
20090508
Fear is an ancient
way of surviving. Being scared makes animals, including humans escape from
danger and save themselves. It is because of fear that we have lived through
millions of years of evolution. Those who lacked a strong fear response were
more likely to be killed, leaving the more fearful and careful to pass their
genes onto the next generation.
How do scientists
explain why shaking over such scary things is fun? “Some kids will go to a
scary movie and love it and laugh over it, others will feel anxious and hide
their faces and some won't even set foot in the cinema," said Ned Kalin, a
US
scientist. "Which kind of person you are depends partly on experiences
you've had and partly on your genes."
What happens in the
brain when something frightens you? Nerves that begin at the eyes and ears lead
to a part of the brain called the amygdala. When you suddenly see a snake, for
example, the amygdala makes you freeze, perspire, have a quickened heartbeat,
or run very fast. However, seeing the snake also uses another part of the
brain, the cortex. It analyzes the situation, and if it finds that the snake is
only made of rubber it tells your heart and the rest of your body to calm down.
Think of the amygdala as the engine and the cortex as the brake.
Back to the first
question: Why do some people like to make themselves scared? One reason is that
we can play games with fear, find ways to reduce the scariness by looking away
or thinking of something else," Kalin said. "To believe we have
control over a situation gives us a feeling of power. "Scary movies or
novels are good practice to prepare young people for the real thing.
Thrills such as roller coaster
rides also go to the brain's pleasure centre.
And there might be
some evolutionary advantage to being able to adjust this system that is there
to protect people.
72．How many questions are answered in the passage?
A．2. B．3. C．4. D．5.
73．Some people like to be scared because.
A．they are afraid that the fear genes will be passed onto their children
B．it’s a good practice to get prepared for the real frightening
situation
C．it can help them show their own personalities
D．they will feel powerful after getting rid of fear
74．Which of the following is true about the people who are not easily scared?
A．Their cortex is better at analyzing the situations.
B．They are more likely to suffer from potential danger.
