Directions: After trading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word: for the other blanks, use one word that best Jits each blank.
Marian Bechtel sits at West Palm Beach's Bar Louie counter by herself, quietly reading her e-book as she waits for her salad. What is she reading? None of your business! Lunch is Bechtel's "me" time. And 1. more Americans, she's not alone.
A new report found 46 percent of meals are eaten alone in America. More than half (53%) have breakfast alone and nearly half (46%) have lunch by themselves. Only at dinnertime 2. we eating together, 74%, according to statistics from the report.
"I prefer to go out and be out. Alone, but together, you know?” Bechtel said, 3. (look) up from her book. Bechtel, who works in downtown West Palm Beach, has lunch with coworkers sometimes, but like many of us, too often 4. (work) through lunch at her desk. A lunchtime escape allows her to keep a boss from tapping her on 5. shoulder. She returns to work feeling energized. "Today, I just wanted some time to myself,” she said.
Just two seats over, Andrew Mazoleny, a local videographer, is finishing his lunch at the bar. He likes that he can sit and check his phone in peace or chat up the barkeeper with whom he's on a first-name basis 6. he wants to have a little interaction. “I reflect on 7. my day's gone and think about the rest of the week," he said. "It's a chance for self-reflection. You return to work 8. (refresh) and with a plan.''
That freedom 9. (choose) is one reason more people like to eat alone. There was a time when people may have felt awkward about asking for a table for one, but those days are over. Now, we have our smartphones to keep us company at the table. "It doesn't feel as alone as it may have before all the advances in technology," said Laurie Demeritt, 10. company provided the statistics for the report.
Sneaker is a kind of shoe worn by many people all over the world. Some say that the word “sneaker” is another word for tennis shoe, ______no one really knows where the word came from. ______ say it came from the old English verb “sneak”, which ______ to move silently and quickly. The only thing we are ______ is that when you put on a pair of sneakers, you ______ light-hearted, light-footed and ready to play.
Sneakers of some kind are used by ______ who play tennis, basketball, and other sports. New design has been made ______ for people who run slowly. But perhaps sneakers are______used by children in the United States. In fact American children of ______ ages would much rather play in sneakers than anything else, except perhaps ______ at all.
New York City once held a poetry contest (诗歌比赛) for children. The subject was only “sneaker”. Thousands of children sent in their ______ and praised the sneakers they love. One prize winner called ______ poem “The Sneaker and the World Peace”. “When everyone is wearing sneakers,” she said, “it will be impossible to ______.”
American school children can be seen every day ______ sneakers of all colours. They put them on in the morning and take them off ______. Sneakers are ______ washed. In fact the older and dirtier they are, the ______ loveable they are. When their sneakers wear out (穿破), children hate to throw them off. How do you explain the closeness between ______? Perhaps another young ______ in the New York Poetry Contest said it best. “A shoe is just a shoe,” he said. “But a sneaker is a ______.”
1.A. however B. but C. or D. and
2.A. All B. Some C. People D. The others
3.A. appears B. remains C. means D. wants
4.A. excited about B. sure of C. surprised at D. pleased with
5.A. think B. feel C. consider D. suggest
6.A. men B. women C. those D. these
7.A. lovely B. specially C. lively D. cheaply
8.A. only B. greatly C. hardly D. finally
9.A. all B. some C. little D. old
10.A. some shoes B. no shoes C. no children D. some sneakers
11.A. photos B. compositions C. poems D. drawings
12.A. her B. his C. its D. their
13.A. explain B. guide C. hate D. love
14.A. dressing B. wearing C. putting on D. having
15.A. the next day B. at noon C. at bedtime D. in the evening
16.A. forever B. always C. seldom D. sometimes
17.A. much B. many C. most D. more
18.A. sneakers and other shoes B. boys and girls C. children and sneakers D. winners and sneakers
19.A. girl B. man C. woman D. winner
20.A. sneaker B. friend C. poem D. shoe
If you work hard to have a positive attitude, you might be surprised by how much better you feel about yourself and life in general. 1. The less stress you feel, the better you will feel generally. So if you’ve been feeling tired, think about the good, put on a happy face and you just might feel better soon.
But how can you have a positive attitude when life is hard? It’s more than just turning life’s lemons into lemonade. 2. But it’s worth it. Here are some ways you can develop and maintain (保持) a positive attitude even in the midst of life’s troubles.
3.It just means being an optimist and looking for the good in things, rather than being a pessimist (悲观者) and focusing on the bad in things. Sometimes your view can make all the difference in the world.
Identify (确认) those areas of your life that might not be going so well. 4. Focus on one area at a time and think of ways you can find the positive in them.
Smile and laugh! Yes, it can be that simple. Learn to love life, no matter what’s going on. Smile at others and they will smile back at you. 5.Sometimes laughter really is the best medicine.
Exercise! Get off the couch and get moving. Being active and healthy can give you a completely different attitude to life.
A.Have fun and find the humor in life.
B.You may find it hard to stay positive in your life.
C.Having a positive attitude can take some hard work.
D.A positive attitude doesn’t mean taking no notice of life’s troubles.
E.Having a positive attitude can also reduce your stress level.
F.These are the areas likely to make you think negative thoughts.
G.Go to bed earlier so you get the sleep you need to feel positive.
A robot created by Washington State University (WSU) scientists could help elderly people with dementia (痴呆) and other limitations live independently in their own homes.
The Robot Activity Support System, or RAS, uses sensors installed in a WSU smart home to determine where its residents are, what they are doing and when they need assistance with daily activities. It navigates (定位) through rooms and around obstacles to find people on its own, provides video instructions on how to do simple tasks and can even lead its owner to objects like their medication or a snack in the kitchen.
“RAS combines the convenience of a mobile robot with the activity detection technology of a WSU smart home to provide assistance in the moment, as the need for help is detected,” said Bryan Minor, a postdoctoral researcher in the WSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Currently, an estimated 50 percent of adults over the age of 85 need assistance with every day activities such as preparing meals and taking medication and the annual cost for this assistance in the US is nearly $2 trillion. With the number of adults over 85 expected to triple by 2050, researchers hope that technologies like RAS and the WSU smart home will relieve some of the financial strain on the healthcare system by making it easier for older adults to live alone.
RAS is the first robot researchers have tried to incorporate into their smart home environment. They recently published a study in the journal Cognitive Systems Research that demonstrates how RAS could make life easier for older adults struggling to live independently.
“While we are still in an early stage of development, our initial results with RAS have been promising,” Minor said. “The next step in the research will be to test RAS’ performance with a group of older adults to get a better idea of what prompts, video reminders and other preferences they have regarding the robot.”
1.How does RAS serve elderly people?
A.Through sensors. B.Through objects.
C.Through a mobile robot. D.Through their daily activities.
2.What can we know about RAS?
A.It is the first robot used in daily life. B.Its function remains to be tested.
C.It can locate people and do any task. D.It can cook for owners on its own.
3.What’s Minor’s attitude toward the future of RAS?
A.Doubtful. B.Negative.
C.Optimistic. D.Uncertain.
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.Elderly people leave the nursing home.
B.Smart Home Tests first elder-Care robot.
C.RAS, the first robot to make home smart.
D.Older adults have benefited from RAS.
Fear can be a wonderful feeling in our lives, protecting us from dangerous situations and keeping us safe. But fear can also limit our lives significantly. While it may not be conscious, fear may make us think we are unacceptable or that what we have to offer isn’t valuable. Fear may make us feel that we are not safe being ourselves.
To avoid feeling fear, we may limit our lives greatly, living in tiny boxes. Living this way gives us the illusion(假象) of safety but leaves us with an unfulfilling life of no passion. If we shine a light on many of our fears, we see they have a very limited view of what is “safe” and how to “protect” us. Many of our fears are concerned only with protecting us from humiliation(羞辱) and failure. While these fears are doing their jobs incredibly well, they are doing so with faulty and outdated programming. Many fears we have as adults are trying to protect us as they protected us when we were children. Indeed, many of our current, automatic reactions to fear were actually formed when we were children.
Even so, it’s important not to judge ourselves for feeling these types of fears. If we judge ourselves, we will bury our fears or disguise them. By denying our fears, however, we also deny our energy, creativity and passion.
So what do we do with fear? We recognize the fear for what it is— a feeling we’ve experienced many times in the past and a feeling we will experience many times in the future. We become very familiar with our own particular brand of fears and how we allow them to control our lives. It is especially beneficial for each of us to become aware of the particular behavior patterns we’ve adopted when we feel fear, so we can look at our reactions with a sense of humor and compassion. Then, if we wish, we can choose a different response, which can be a scary yet very exciting experience.
1.According to the first paragraph, fear sometimes ________.
A. protect us when we’ve made mistakes
B. makes sure our feelings are not hurt
C. brings great change to our everyday life
D. makes us lose confidence in ourselves
2.According to the author, the ways we react to fear ________.
A. vary from person to person
B. have been formed since childhood
C. develop during our growth
D. will not change until we get old
3.The last paragraph mainly tells us ________.
A. what is the essence of fears
B. usual reactions we have when feeling fear
C. how to deal with fears reasonably
D. the importance of humor and compassion
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Is fear managing your life?
B. Be calm when feeling fear
C. What do you fear most?
D. Passion, chance and fear
After the examination, the doctor told my parents my sight would get worse and that I would lose my sight finally. On the way home from hospital, no one said a word. One day, would I only imagine the scenery beyond the glass rather than see it?
That September, I entered middle school. Most nights I had homework that included an armful of books to read. To keep up with other children, I took great trouble to finish the task. With my nose a couple of inches from the page, I was tired easily. What’s worse, after I had read several pages on my own, the words slipped off the page into inky pools.
However, then I did not have audio books and electronic devices like kids do now. Instead, Mom volunteered to read out loud. Mom worked part time, cleaned the house, cooked and spent time with Grandma. In spite of being so busy, she showed up in my room like clockwork. She put on her reading glasses. Mom always thought those glasses made her look old. To me, she looked like a teacher.
In my room, Mom’s voice compared with the ticking of the clock. Being forced to focus on listening, I found a way to keep my marks up and compete with the other kids. When the teacher asked a question, I raised my hand with confidence. Teachers praised me for having a good memory. Reading removed my fear for my failing sight, reading also made me curious about other people’s challenges and how they managed. Though I could not use my eyes to fix on each passage, my mind lit up with every new book.
True to what the doctor said, the worst came, but thanks to Mom, my sense of hearing now allows me to “see”. This was the most precious gift from a mother to her child.
1.The author and his parents keep silent on their way home from hospital because .
A. what the doctor said was worrying
B. the author failed in the exam
C. they were exhausted
D. they focused on the scenery along the road
2.The author manage to raise his marks in learning by .
A. being confident
B. getting help from his teacher
C. listening attentively（专心地）
D. competing with his classmates
3.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. The author’s eyes recovered finally.
B. Reading made the author more sensitive.
C. The author’s mother quitted her job to look after him.
D. Reading helped the author a lot both academically and mentally.
4.Which of the following could be the title of the text?
A. My eyesight trouble
B. An unforgettable experience
C. My good hearing
D. A precious gift from mother
