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“Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy---they're given after all. Choices can be hard.”

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30, and I’d been married for a year. I told my wife that I wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most start-ups don’t and I wasn't sure what to expect. She told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I had been a garage inventor. I had always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people and a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him that I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park，listened carefully to me and finally said,“That sounds like a really good idea，but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.”That logic made some sense to me，and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice，but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I would regret trying and failing. And I suspected that I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.

After much consideration, I took the less secure path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choices.

1.What inspired the author to start Amazon 16 years ago? (No more than 15 words)

2.How did the author’s wife respond to his crazy idea of building an online bookstore? (No more than 10 words)

3.What was the attitude of the author’s boss towards his starting a company online? (No more than 10 words)

4.What’s your understanding of the underlined sentence in the last paragraph? (No more than 15 words)

5.What is the most important factor when you make your career choice? Give your reasons. (No more than 20 words)

    I’m a storyteller. And I would like to tell you a few personal stories.

I grew up reading British and American children’s books. When I began to write, I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading: All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they ate apples and talked a lot about the weather, despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria. We ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather. Because all I had read were books in which characters were foreign, I had become convinced that books by their very nature had to have foreigners in them. Things changed when I discovered African books. Because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye, I went through a mental shift in my idea of literature. I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate, could also exist in literature. I started to write about things I recognized. So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this: It saved me from having a single story of what books are. The year I turned eight, we got a new house boy Fide from a nearby rural village. The only thing my mother told us about him was that his family was very poor. And when I didn’t finish my dinner, my mother would say, “Finish your food! Don’t you know? People like Fide’s family have nothing.” So I felt enormous pity for Fide’s family. Then one Saturday, we went to his village to visit, and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket that his brother had made. I was astonished. It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something. Their poverty was my single story of them.

Years later, when I left Nigeria to go to university in the United States, my American roommate asked where I had learned to speak English so well, and was confused when I said that Nigeria happened to have English as its official language. What struck me was this: She had felt sorry for me even before she saw me. My roommate had a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe.

Of course, Africa is a continent full of catastrophes. But there are other stories that are not about catastrophe, and it is very important, it is just as important, to talk about them. The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.

So what if my mother had told us that Fide’s family was poor and hardworking? What if we had an African television network that broadcast diverse African stories all over the world? What if my roommate knew about my Nigerian publisher, Muhtar Bakare, a remarkable man who left his job in a bank to follow his dream and start a publishing house? What if my roommate knew about my friend Funmi Iyanda, a fearless woman who hosts a TV show, and is determined to tell the stories that we prefer to forget?

My Nigerian publisher and I have just started a non-profit called Farafina Trust, and we have big dreams of building libraries and providing books for state schools, and also of organizing lots of workshops in reading and writing, for all the people who are eager to tell our many stories.

Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity. When we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.

1.What is probably people’s first impression of the writer when it comes to her nationality?

A.She mainly eats apples and mangoes.

B.She may not speak fluent English.

C.She comes from a place free of catastrophes.

D.She prefers stories based on foreign characters.

2.The underlined phrase “a mental shift” in Paragraph 2 refers to the writer’s ________.

A.discovery of African books with characters of her skin color

B.acquaintance with local African writers like Chinua Achebe

C.realization that not only foreign characters exist in literature

D.change that she started to write about things she recognized

3.How many personal stories has the writer mentioned in the passage?

A.Two. B.Three.

C.Four. D.Five.

4.The writer uses several single stories in the passage to illustrate that the single story ________.

A.matters in keeping listeners well informed

B.tends to convey a prejudiced idea to listeners

C.gets increasingly popular among story tellers

D.fails to produce a lasting effect on listeners

5.The writer lists many “what ifs” in Paragraph 6 to ________.

A.emphasize our differences rather than similarities

B.indicate the way that stories are used to break dignity

C.show the hardship of recognizing our equal humanity

D.stress the importance of telling diverse, balanced stories

6.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A.The danger of the single story B.The importance of telling stories

C.The single stories that matter D.Stories that can repair broken dignity

    Antarctica has become one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. Since 1969, the average number of visitors to the continent has increased from several hundred to over 34,000 today. All activities in Antarctica are heavily supervised by the Antarctic treaty for environmental protection purposes and the industry is largely managed by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO).

The first expedition (探险) to Antarctica with travelers was in 1966, led by Swedish explorer Lars Eric Lindblad. He wanted to give tourists first-hand experience of the ecological sensitivity of the Antarctic environment, in order to educate them and promote a greater understanding of the continent’s role in the world. In 1969, Lindblad built the world’s first expedition ship, the MS Lindblad Explorer, which was specifically designed to transport tourists to Antarctica.

In 1977, both Australia and New Zealand started to offer scenic flights to Antarctica through Qantas and Air New Zealand. The flights often flew to the continent without landing and returned to the departure airport. The experience was an average 12 to 14 hours with up to 4 hours of flying directly over the continent. The flights from Australia and New Zealand stopped in 1980. It was largely due to the Air New Zealand Flight 901 accident on November 28, 1979. In 1994, flights to Antarctica continued again.

Despite the potential dangers and risks, trips to Antarctica continued to grow. According to IAATO, 34,354 travelers visited the continent between 2012 and 2013. Americans contributed to the largest share with 10,677 visitors, or 31.1%, followed by Germans 11.1%, Australians 10.7%, and the British 10.2%. The rest of the visitors were from China, Canada, Switzerland, France and elsewhere.

The cost of a trip to Antarctica can range from as little as $3,000-$4,000 to over $40,000, depending on the scope of transportation, housing, and activity needs. The higher end packages typically involve air transport, on-site camping, and a visit to the South Pole.

1.Which can best replace the underlined word “supervised” in Paragraph 1?

A.Protected. B.Monitored.

C.Supported. D.Forbidden.

2.What’s Lars Eric Lindblad’s original purpose in getting to Antarctica?

A.To make himself the first explorer to go to Antarctica.

B.To transport more and more tourists to Antarctica.

C.To get first-hand experience of precious resources.

D.To let people know the significance of the continent.

3.What do we know about the flights to Antarctica?

A.They were once cancelled for more than ten years due to dangers.

B.Natural conditions of Antarctica are unable to support their landing.

C.It takes 14 hours to fly from New Zealand to Antarctica directly.

D.Air New Zealand has much success in developing Antarctic tourism.

4.What can be learned from the passage?

A.It is very convenient for Americans to travel to Antarctica.

B.The travelers usually have 4 hours’ sightseeing on the continent.

C.The number of people travelling to Antarctica is increasing.

D.New Zealand is the first country to offer scenic flights to Antarctica.

5.What’s the best title for the text?

A.The development of Antarctica B.Antarctica, a dream tourist attraction

C.The history of tourism in Antarctica D.IAATO, a great organization

    “If they hated me they didn’t talk to me about it,” says a young German manager at a media firm in Frankfurt. Still, he says it was noticeable that when an employee 20 years older than him thanked him for buying lunch he had to swallow twice before adding the word “boss”.

Older workers sometimes envy being managed by a younger colleague. Precocious (老成的) youngsters, too, can feel awkward about bossing their elders around. But in Germany a shortage of skilled workers means that such situations are becoming even more common.

The country’s population is projected to shrink. As more Germans retire，fewer youngsters are entering the work-place to replace them. As a share of the working population the number of

15-to-24-year-olds has fallen by ten percent since the 1980s, says the German Federal Employment Agency. Firms competing to hire young talent have to promote them earlier as a result. A paper by professors at the university of Cambridge and WHU, a German business school, to be published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, suggests this could be a problem.

As in many countries, German work-places are legally obliged to overlook age when deciding whom to promote. Yet according to Jochen Menges, one of the authors, when an ordinary worker leap-frogs a more experienced one it can leave the latter with feelings of “anger, fear and disgust.” People tend to judge their own standing by the success of their peers, and to see failure in being bossed about by someone younger. The relationship between feelings of anxiety and the age of the boss is clear, according to Mr Menges. A manager who is younger by one year is somewhat unsettling; a gap of 20 years is far more discouraging.

German firms certainly shouldn’t return to a system in which age equals to rank. But young people tend to be sensitive about managing upwards. And older workers should be encouraged to see the bright side of learning new skills. Daimler, a big German car firm, says it promotes age- mixed teams, so that knowledge can be transferred between generations. It also supports young managers by asking retired employees to provide temporary support.

1.For what does the author mention a young German manager and his experience in Paragraph 1?

A.To introduce the topic. B.To present an argument.

C.To attract readers’ interest. D.To describe his own idea.

2.Why are some precocious youngsters bossing their elders around in Germany？

A.Precocious youngsters are all skilled workers.

B.Such situations are becoming more common.

C.Fewer youngsters would like to do hard work.

D.Companies compete fiercely to hire young talent.

3.In which of the following situations might an employee regard himself as a failure according to the passage?

A.When he has to decide whom to promote.

B.When he leap-frogs a more experienced worker.

C.When he is being bossed about by someone younger.

D.When he experiences feelings of anger, fear and disgust.

4.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 mean?

A.A younger boss is more likely to be nervous and anxious.

B.An employee with a younger boss tends to suffer from anxiety.

C.There is a connection between anxiety and the age of promotion.

D.The age of the boss and anxiety are closely related.

5.What can we learn from the passage?

A.Qualified workers should be promoted to boss.

B.Older workers should support younger managers.

C.Older workers are no better than younger colleagues.

D.You are never too old to learn, or too young to mange.

Harvard Pre-College Program

Our summer program for high school students is designed to pave the way for a successful college experience.

HERE YOU CAN:

Learn without limits

Pursue your interests in courses focusing on physics, law, writing, philosophy, and a dozen other subjects.

Live at Harvard

* You will live in a historic undergraduate house near Harvard Square.

* Your plan covers three meals a day, seven days a week.

Have fun outside the classroom

You might enjoy a Cirque du Sileil performance, a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, or a trip to the Museum of Science.

ELIGIBILITY (申请资格)

Students are academically motivated and will graduate in 2020 or 2021.

TO APPLY

Complete an online application and provide the following materials: the $50 nonrefundable application fee; transcripts (成绩单) with fall 2018 grades; signed rules and regulations.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Participants should apply for the B-2 tourist visa. If English is not your native language, submit scores from the TOEFLor IELTS language proficiency exam.

APPLICATION TIPS

* No fee is required to start your application. You will be asked to pay the application fee only upon submitting the application.

* The scores of successful applicants are typically above 103 on the TOEFL with 25 on the written section or at least 7.5 on the IELTS with 7 on the written section.

* Use a desktop or laptop. You will be asked to write short essays as part of your application. This may be challenging to do on a mobile phone.

* You will receive an email informing you of the application status approximately three weeks after you have completed your application.

1.Harvard organizes such a program to ______.

A.reduce students’ academic pressure

B.select good students to join in Harvard

C.make students obtain high grades in their study

D.help students prepare for their future college life

2.What can we learn about the program?

A.Students are offered three meals except weekends.

B.It merely has two sessions during one summer.

C.It provides courses on various subjects for students.

D.Students can live in a hotel near Harvard.

3.If you are a native student who wants to apply for the program, you need to provide ______

A.a B-2 tourist visa

B.transcripts with your fall 2018 grades

C.scores from the TOEFL exam

D.a recommendation letter from your high school teacher

4.The applicants can learn from the application tips that ______.

A.their TOEFL or IELTS scores should meet the requirements

B.the application fee should be paid before they start applying

C.it is convenient to use any electronic products to apply

D.they can check the application status in a week