It was a cold winter’s afternoon. Robert stopped for a moment as he crossed the bridge and looked down at the river below. There were hardly any ____ on the river. Near the bridge, ____, almost directly below, there was a small canoe, with a boy in it. He was not wearing many clothes, Robert ____. He had a tremble and walked on.
___ he heard a cry. “Help! Help!” The cry came from the river. Robert looked ____. The boy was in the water and his canoe was ____ away. “Help! Help!” he called again.
Robert was a good swimmer. Taking off his clothes, he ____ into the river. The freezing water made him shiver all over, ____ in a few seconds he reached the boy. ____ the boy with him, he started to swim towards the ____. But at that moment he noticed a large motor boat under the bridge. There were several people on the boat, all ____ in his direction. Robert decided to swim towards the boat.
“Give me a hand,” he shouted ____ he got near the boat. He ____ up into a row of faces. “It’s ____,” he thought. “They look so ____.” Silently they helped the boy into the boat and ____ him in a blanket. But they did not move to ____ Robert.
“Aren’t you going to pull me ____, too?” Robert asked.
“You!” said one of the men. Robert noticed that that man was standing next to a large ____, “You! Why, we were making a TV comedy and you ____ a whole afternoon’s work! You can stay where you are!”
1.A. rocks B. fishermen C. boats D. swimmers
2.A. however B. besides C. anyhow D. indeed
3.A. concluded B. guessed C. judged D. noticed
4.A. Till then B. Just then C. Far away D. From there
5.A. down B. sideways C. forward D. backward
6.A. running B. floating C. flowing D. fading
7.A. swam B. stepped C. dived D. dropped
8.A. and B. so C. or D. but
9.A. Pushing B. Dragging C. Catching D. Holding
10.A. bank B. bridge C. canoe D. boat
11.A. swimming B. rowing C. looking D. screaming
12.A. since B. till C. once D. as
13.A. turned B. looked C. hurried D. stood
14.A. funny B. heartwarming C. worthwhile D. fantastic
15.A. relieved B. touched C. grateful D. annoyed
16.A. left B. wrapped C. placed D. threw
17.A. save B. thank C. assist D. welcome
18.A. on B. off C. away D. out
19.A. sail B. lifeboat C. camera D. container
20.A. ruined B. rescued C. participated D. improved
There is a huge power in knowing how to make adjustments (调节) in life. In fact, it’s possible to turn failure into success by making the right adjustments. 1.
Whatever your station in life, everyone will face what I call the 3Cs: changes, challenges and choices. The following are some simple but powerful tips to help you make effective life adjustments.
◆ 2.
Most people see with their eyes but very few people know how to observe. The difference between seeing and observing is like the difference between reading and studying. One factor in helping you to listen better is to hear not only what people say but also what they don’t say. Reading body language and voice inflection (音调变化) can help you listen between the lines. All these play an effective role in helping you to think with your eyes and ears.
◆ Learn to go with the flow.
The people who learn to make the best life adjustments can develop the habit of going with the flow.3.Notice people who can go with the flow and you will find a person with sharp instincts (本能) they depend on.
◆ 4.
If you can keep an attitude of preparation for 3Cs, you’ll have the best chance of making effective life adjustments.
As the saying goes, if you stay ready, you do not have to get ready. 5.
A. Listen to what people don’t say.
B. Learn to think with your eyes and ears.
C. Be prepared for changes, challenges and choices.
D. The key is in knowing where they are needed and how much.
E. That’s the best advice for anyone who wants to make the best life adjustments and win!
F. So, what’s one of the key factors for people who fail to make life adjustments when faced with 3Cs?
G. The best way to do that is to trust your instincts. The more you do that, the more they will work for you.
Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don’t come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And, in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it’ll require even more time, time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you give up well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success, you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost. It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent, but thinking that way does you no good, and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work, don’t expect to receive any prize. Consistent, hard work won’t guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.
1.Paragraph 1 mainly talks about ________.
A. the reasons for success B. the standards of success
C. the importance of success D. what people think success is
2.Successful people suggest doing what one loves because ________.
A. work makes one feel pain B. one tends to enjoy his work
C. it takes a lot of time to succeed D. one gives up his work easily
3.What can we infer from Paragraph 4?
A. Successful people like to show their great skills.
B. People need to achieve success at the cost of life.
C. People sometimes succeed without luck or talent.
D. It helps to think that luck or talent leads to success.
4.What is the main theme of the passage?
A. Luck, talent and family help to achieve success.
B. One cannot succeed without time and practice.
C. Having a goal is very important to success.
D. Being good is different from being great.
Flowers make people happy. And while that might seem obvious, there hasn’t been much research to prove the point until now.
Some new studies by Rutgers University scientists support the idea strongly, and the experts go on to assume that flowers have flourished on this planet, with their beauty evolving in recent thousands of years, partly because humans are so attached to them.
In a test, bunches of flowers were sent by florists to 113 men and women in a retirement community. All 113 got flowers and a notebook, but some got them earlier and received a second bunch when the others got theirs. By now you can guess the outcome. The more flowers, the more smiles.
The results of the studies got the scientists to thinking about how the flower industry of today has evolved into growing things that serve no other purpose than emotional (情感上的) satisfaction. Nature won’t even pollinate (授粉) many of the domesticated flowers. Just among roses, there are so many types created by humans that, clearly, flowers aren’t what they used to be. But it’s likely our collective hand has played a role longer than you might think.
Geneticist (遗传学家) Terry McGuire suggests that nature’s prettier flowers got to survive and develop well because people didn’t destroy them when they cleared for agriculture. Instead, they grew them and have been doing so for over 5,000 years. “Because they’re a source of pleasure, we take care of them. In that sense they’re like dogs. They are the pets of the plant world.” McGuire says.
Here is one way that might have worked:
Many species of flowers that are now planted used to grow only when the ground was disturbed, McGuire explains. “As humans moved into agricultural settings, these flowers would have been weeds.” “These flowers might have been tolerated because of their beauty. The seeds would have been preserved and replanted. Over time, the best of these flowers might have been selected and the seeds more carefully preserved.”
1.The underlined word “theirs” probably means ________.
A. flowers B. notebooks
C. flowers and notebooks D. a second bunch of flowers
2.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
A. We keep dogs because they make us happy.
B. People grow flowers for thousands of years.
C. The more flowers people get, the happier they are.
D. People left all the flowers alive when clearing land.
3.According to Terry McGuire, one possible way of flower evolution is ________.
a. the most beautiful flowers were chosen
b. people replanted the seeds of the flowers
c. flowers were wild plants at the beginning
d. people protected the prettier flowers while clearing land
A. c, d, b, a, B. c, b, d, a
C. c, d, a, b D. c, b, a, d
4.What is the best title of this passage?
A. More Flowers, More Smiles B. Flowers: Pets of Plant World
C. Human’s Affection & Flowers’ Evolution D. Human’s Love Towards Flowers
Next month, I’m traveling to a remote area of Central Africa and my aim is to know enough Lingala — one of the local languages — to have a conversation. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage this — until I discovered a way to learn all the vocabulary I’m going to need. Thanks to Memrise, the application I’m using. It feels just like a game.
“People often stop learning things because they feel they’re not making progress or because it all feels like too much hard work,” says Ed Cooke, one of the people who created Memrise. “We’re trying to create a form of learning experience that is fun and is something you’d want to do instead of watching TV.”
Memrise gives you a few new words to learn and these are “seeds” which you plant in your “greenhouse”. When you learn the words, you “water your plants”. When the application believes that you’ve really memorized a word, it moves the word to your “garden”. And if you forget to log on, the application sends you emails, reminding you to “water your plants”.
The application uses two principles about learning. The first is that people memorize things better when they link them to a picture in their mind. Memrise translates words into your own language, but it also encourages you to use “mems”. For example, I memorized motele, the Lingala word for “engine”, using a mem I created — I imagined an old engine in a motel (汽车旅馆) room.
The second principle is that we need to stop after studying words and then repeat them again later, leaving time between study sessions. Memrise helps you with this, because it’s the kind of application you only use for five or ten minutes a day.
I’ve learnt hundreds of Lingala words with Memrise. I know this won’t make me a fluent speaker, but I hope I’ll be able to do more than just smile when I meet people in Congo. Now, I need to go and water my Vocabulary!
1.What does Ed Cooke make an effort to do with Memrise?
A. Create memorable experiences. B. Make progress with hard work.
C. Learning words instead of watching TV. D. Combine study with entertainment.
2.What are you doing when you “water your plants”?
A. Logging on to the application. B. Being a Memrise user.
C. Practising the vocabulary. D. Moving words to your garden.
3.How does Memrise work?
A. By linking different mems together. B. By putting knowledge into practice.
C. By offering human translation services. D. By applying an associative memory approach.
4.What is the author’s attitude towards Memrise?
A. Doubtful. B. Positive.
C. Uninterested. D. Negative.
Guide to Stockholm University Library
Our library offers different types of studying places and provides a good studying environment.
Zones
The library is divided into different zones. The upper floor is a quiet zone with over a thousand places for silent reading, and places where you can sit and work with your own computer. The reading places consist mostly of tables and chairs. The ground floor is the zone where you can talk. Here you can find sofas and armchairs for group work.
Computers
You can use your own computer to connect to the wi-fi specially prepared for notebook computers; you can also use library computers, which contain the most commonly used applications, such as Microsoft Office. They are situated in the area known as the Experimental Field on the ground floor.
Group-study places
If you want to discuss freely without disturbing others, you can book a study room or sit at a table on the ground floor. Some study rooms are for 2～3 people and others can hold up to 6～8 people. All rooms are marked on the library maps.
There are 40 group-study rooms that must be booked via the website. To book, you need an active University account and a valid University card. You can use a room three hours per day, nine hours at most per week.
Storage of Study Material
The library has lockers for students to store course literature. When you have obtained at least 40 credits, you may rent a locker and pay 400 SEK for a year’s rental period.
Rules to be Followed
Mobile phone conversations are not permitted anywhere in the library. Keep your phone on silent as if you were in a lecture and exit the library if you need to receive calls.
Please note that food and fruit are forbidden in the library, but you are allowed to have drinks and sweets with you.
1.What is the library’s upper floor mainly for students to do?
A. Read in a quiet place. B. Have group discussions.
C. Take comfortable seats. D. Get their computers fixed.
2.What condition should be met to book a group-study room?
A. A group must consist of 8 people. B. Three-hour use per day is the minimum.
C. One should first register at the university. D. Applicants must mark the room on the map.
3.A student can rent a locker in the library if he ________.
A. can afford the rental fee B. attends certain courses
C. has nowhere to put his books D. has earned the required credits
