Once many years ago, I pulled a family out of a burning car somewhere in Wyoming. Last week I ______ a telephone call from a woman who could not stop ______ as she told me that one of my stories had saved her son from committing suicide. In closing she called me a ______.
That ______ me thinking about what a hero is. Was I a hero because I pulled a family from a burning car? If so, ______ could I be a hero just because I ______ a story that saved someone's life?
Today I decided to look up the word “hero” in the dictionary to see ______ what it meant. It ______ “a person who does something brave”. As I read on, it also said “a person who is good and noble”.
That statement ______ me more than the part about being ______. So I thought about something very important. Say I was walking into the local Wal-Mart Store and I ______ to open and hold the door for someone as a kindness. As they passed me by, I say, “How are you today?” Most of the time that would be no big deal, ______ this time let's say it was for someone who was deeply ______ and near the end of the rope. That may have very well been the only kindness or politeness shown to them in a very long time.
Having been near “the end of my rope”, after my marriage of twenty years ended, I was in such a condition. I was within hours trying to get enough ______ to end the pain and misery. When I returned home, someone had ______ me a card in the mail which told me how ______ they would appreciate me as a friend. That wonderful card probably saved my life. That person, without even knowing it, saved a life and became a hero.
Similarly many children come out of the orphanages ______ a very hard and bitter attitude against the world, but the gifts we send them let them know that they have not been forgotten. ______, most of them will never hurt anyone because of the ______ shown to them by those of us who cared. If it ______, we will also become “heroes”.
1.A. made B. gave C. received D. accepted
2.A. crying B. laughing C. thinking D. smiling
3.A. writer B. player C. gentleman D. hero
4.A. helped B. sent C. let D. made
5.A. how B. what C. why D. whether
6.A. said B. made C. recalled D. wrote
7.A. easily B. directly C. exactly D. obviously
8.A. read B. wrote C. told D. described
9.A. helped B. gave C. followed D. touched
10.A. good B. brave C. kind D. noble
11.A. happened B. wanted C. intended D. meant
12.A. though B. since C. because D. but
13.A. moved B. excited C. depressed D. frightened
14.A. money B. courage C. energy D. ability
15.A. sent B. carried C. brought D. took
16.A. deeply B. completely C. well D. much
17.A. without B. for C. with D. within
18.A. Desperately B. Hopefully C. Eagerly D. Unfortunately
19.A. consciousness B. respect C. kindness D. confidence
20.A. matters B. works C. acts D. does
Last year, I was speaking at a gathering of wealthy male investors. The organizers posted the ____of a survey showing that only a small percentage of wealthy men believed their wives spent too much.
“What?” ____one participant, “Those guys have to be lying.”
There is no reliable ____of who spends more among the rich: men or women. Both will say the other is the ____spender.
A recent survey by Wilmington Trust, Campden Research and Relative Solutions proves the ____. The companies polled 40 women (I know, that is more like a show of hands than “survey”), each with a net worth of $25 million or more.
About half the respondents（受调查者） inherited（继承） their ___, a quarter ___ it from their husbands and the other quarter earned it __. That is roughly in line with other surveys of __ women and the source of their money. One interesting note: among the self-made women, 90% got their money from owning a business, rather than ____ a salary.
As for ____, almost all the women (90%) described their spending habits as “below their means.” The report on the survey said that is possibly ____ they do not view their extreme wealth as defining their success.
“Women tend not to spend as much as ____and splash（泼洒得使到处是） their names all over the place,” said one woman in the survey, describing her spending as conservative and her lifestyle as “below the radar.”
Many women also worried about wealth having ____ effects on their children and didn’t want to spend lavishly（挥霍） to ____ a bad example.
At the same time, 70% of the women said they “buy nice things when ____.” And 93.5% of the women said they were responsible for making ____ on major purchases, which ____ that they do a lot of the big spending.
Of course, for truly major purchases a house in Aspen, Colo., a Gulfstream, a Feadship the couple probably makes the decision _____.
But what about other ____ ? Do you think men or women do most of the high-end spending?
1.A. directions B. reasons C. times D. consequences
2.A. cried B. sighed C. shouted D. laughed
3.A. data B. measure C. division D. news
4.A. better B. bigger C. smaller D. worse
5.A. affairs B. message C. point D. report
6.A. spirit B. money C. habit D. cost
7.A. bought B. robbed C. got D. earned
8.A. itself B. herself C. ourselves D. themselves
9.A. wealthy B. poor C. ordinary D. honest
10.A. making B. earning C. taking D. spending
11.A. buying B. wasting C. spending D. saving
12.A. when B. if C. whether D. because
13.A. women B. youth C. adults D. men
14.A. serious B. good C. bad D. various
15.A. send B. set C. do D. give
16.A. necessary B. possible C. pleased D. anxious
17.A. plans B. decisions C. appointments D. suggestions
18.A. notices B. stresses C. implies D. intends
19.A. away B. together C. as well D. out
20.A. purchases B. effects C. differences D. examples
Over the centuries, people have created many rituals (仪式) to accompany the consumption of their favourite drinks, tea and coffee. Just think of the Japanese tea ceremony, British afternoon tea or the morning coffee ritual in countless societies. Why are these drinks so popular? 1. In the modern world, the new caffeine delivery systems are canned energy drinks. And the more modern our world gets, the more we seem to need caffeine.
Most people don’t think twice about their caffeine intake. 2. So the widespread use of caffeine is now a cause for concern among scientists and public health authorities. One result of this concern is that you are not allowed to sell energy drinks in France or Denmark. And in other European countries, manufacturers have to label cans with warnings. The United States has no such rule, but many canned energy drinks sold in the USA carry warnings anyway. 3. Studies have shown it helps relieve pain, reduces asthma (哮喘）symptoms and increases reaction speed. Despite this, a study in Ireland recommended that children and pregnant women, among other groups, shouldn’t drink energy drinks.
4. “For most of human existence, the pattern of sleeping and waking has followed sunrise and sunset.” explains Charles Czeisler, a neuroscientist（神经学家） at Harvard Medical School. “Then, the way we work changed from a schedule built around the sun to an indoor job timed by a clock, and consequently humans had to adapt. Electric light, and caffeinated food and drink allowed people to follow a work schedule set by the clock, not by daylight or the natural sleep cycle. 5. Without enough sleep the human body will not function at its best, physically, mentally, or emotionally.”
A. The answer is their secret ingredient --- caffeine.
B. But we need coffee to get us out of bed and back to work.
C. The main reason that people want caffeine is to stay awake.
D. But research suggests that caffeine may have benefits for human health.
E. Nevertheless, there is a heavy price to pay for all this extra wakefulness.
F. However, it raises blood pressure and thus increases the risk of heart disease.
G. Most babies in the developed world are born with traces of caffeine in their bodies.
Near the city of Yogyakarta in Java（爪哇岛）is not only one magnificent（宏伟的）monument, Borobudur（婆罗浮屠）, but a second equally impressive one. Prambanan, the second monument, shares a remarkable number of things in common with Borobudur.
First, both huge temple complexes (建筑群) are thought to have been built at about the same time, around 850 AD. 1. Some historians think that both temples were created during the era of the Sailendra Dynasty
Second, in both cases, the temples appear to have been abandoned just after they were completed. Why were they left alone, isolated (被孤立) in the mountains of Java? 2. It certainly took a great deal of effort to build the monument, so why would their use come to a standstill（停止）without a very good reason?
3. Prior to efforts to restore and preserve them in the 1800s, they lay in ruins, covered with plants. Today, both Borobudur and Prambanan are UNESCO World Heritage sites, famous for their religious art.
Although there are so many similarities, there are important differences. For example, Prambanan, east of Yogyakarta, is a Hindu temple, while Borobudur, northwest of the city, is a Buddhist temple. 4. Overall, its individual (个别的) buildings are smaller than those of Borobudur. Borobudur sits on a hill and you can make it out from some distance. On the other hand, Prambanan is spread out over a flatter area. 5.
A. Perhaps it is due to the eruption of the volcano, Mount Merapi.
B. Borobudur and Prambanan each tell their sacred stories in vivid detail.
C. Borobudur temple is one of the best-preserved ancient monuments in Indonesia.
D. However, scholars are not completely sure about the exact dates of construction of either place.
E. Finally, you can go inside the Hindu temple, but you must admire the Buddhist one from the outside.
F. Borobudur is one huge structure with ten levels, but Prambanan is a group of eighteen temple buildings.
G. The third common factor is that both priceless monuments suffered a great deal of damage during the centuries when they were left alone.
Men are spending more and more time in the kitchen encouraged by celebrity (名人) chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, according to a report from Oxford University.
The effect of the celebrity role models，who have given cooking a more manly picture，has combined with a more general drive towards sexual equality and men now spend more than twice the amount of time preparing meals than they did in 1961.
According to the research by Prof. Jonatahn Gershuny，who runs the Centre for Time Research at Oxford, men now spend more than half an hour a day cooking, up from just 12 minutes a day in 1961.
Prof. Gershuny said. “The man in the kitchen is part of a much wider social trend. There has been 40 years of sexual equality, but there is another 40 years probably to come.”
Women, who a generation ago spent nearly two hours a day cooking, now spend just one hour and seven minutes — a great fall, but they still spend far more time in the kitchen than men.
Some experts have named these men in aprons(围裙) as “Gastrosexuals (men using cooking skills to impress friends)”, who have been inspired to pick up a kitchen knife by the success of Ramsay，Oliver as well as other male celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley－Whittingstall, Marco Pierre White and Keith Floyd.
“I was married in 1974. When my father came to visit me a few weeks later, I was wearing an apron when I opened the door. He laughed,” said Prof. Gershuny. “That would never happen now.”
Two－thirds of adults say that they come together to share at least three times a week, even if it is not necessarily around a kitchen or dining room table. Prof. Gershuny pointed out that the family meal was now rarely eaten by all of its members around a table — with many “family meals” in fact taken on the sofa in the sitting room, and shared by family members. “The family meal has changed a lot, and few of us eat — as I did when I was a child — at least two meals a day together as a family. But it has survived in a different format.”
1.What is one reason behind the trend that men spend more time cooking than before?
A. The improvement of cooks’ status.
B. The influence of popular female chefs.
C. The change of female’ s view on cooking.
D. The development of sexual equality campaign.
2.What does the author think about the time men and women spend on cooking?
A. Men spend more time cooking than women nowadays.
B. Women spend much less time on cooking than before.
C. It will take 40 years before men spend more time at the stove than women.
D. There is a sharp fall in the time men spend on cooking compared with 1961.
3.How did Prof. Gershuny see the family meal according to the passage?
A. It has become a thing of the past.
B. It is very different from what it used to be.
C. It shouldn’t be advised in modern times.
D. It is beneficial to the stability(稳定) of the family.
4.Which is the best title for the passage?
A. The Changes of Family Meals B. Equality between Men and Women
C. Cooking into a New Trend for Men D. Cooking — a Thing of the Past for Women
As a child, visiting the zoo was more a punishment than a treat. I didn’t find the chimps’(黑猩猩) tea parties funny, nor the bird shows entertaining. Feeding time for seals was less painful, but their performances still seemed like they belonged more in a circus.
And I hated circuses, especially the animal acts—men teasing lions, girls balancing on elephants and monkeys playing football. I knew that every trick a circus animal did was unnatural, achieved through strict training and quite possibly cruelty.
Happily, during my lifetime public attitudes and the law have changed. Circuses using wild animals are now almost extinct, and zoos have definitely evolved.
When my children were young, I occasionally took them to our local zoo. The elephants were in tiny cages and the gorillas(大猩猩) looked bored as they sat peeling bananas and staring at teasing visitors. Each cage had a sign which listed the animal’s name and where it came from. But, back then, there was little information included about the environmental challenges they faced.
As a result, environmentalists and animal lovers often oppose zoos. “Animals belong in the wild,” is a common and understandable complaint. But what do the animals themselves prefer?
Generally speaking, zoo animals have a longer life. But — you may protest — they are not free. What? Free to be hunted and killed, free to die of hunger or thirst? Maybe sitting in a cage eating bananas isn’t so bad.
Not that such conditions are acceptable in modern zoos, due to the work of BIAZA, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums(水族馆). These days every zoo requires BIAZA’s approval to operate, and the association sets the standards, observes conditions in zoos and develops animal-research programmes, both in the UK and abroad. BIAZA also organises the animal exchanges between zoos all over the world.
Consequently, today, most zoo animals are born and raised in zoos, live in large, comfortable enclosures(围场) and are cared for by well-trained, knowledgeable and caring zoo employees. Of course it’s no substitute(替代)for living in the wild but unfortunately this isn’t always possible. Meanwhile, why not visit your local zoo and decide for yourself?
1.The passage is mainly about ______.
A. how zoos have improved
B. whether a zoo should be closed down
C. a new environmental organisation
D. zoos and circuses
2.From Paragraph 2, we can guess that the writer believes circus animals ______.
A. had much shorter lives than those in the wild
B. were not treated well by their trainers
C. should have been placed in zoos
D. were not as intelligent as those in zoos
3.Which of the following roles are performed by BIAZA?
A. Organising animal study projects and training zoo workers.
B. Checking zoo conditions and arranging animal exchanges.
C. Designing zoos and approving zoo operations.
D. Caring for ill animals and setting zoo standards.
4.Which of the following statements about zoos would the writer agree with?
A. All of the zoo animals ought to be freed into the wild.
B. Zoos are much more popular now than those in the past years.
C. Zoo animals are a lot more restricted than in the past.
D. Zoos now provide better caring living conditions for animals.
