There once was a very knowledgeable and talented man. He played the piano skillfully for years, but remained_______He felt quite puzzled. One day, he met God. He asked God angrily, “As you see, I am a _______person. Why don't you give me an opportunity to come to _______?”
God answered helplessly, “_______!You're a learned person, but you just_______ everything a little, not deep enough, so how can you become famous?”
Having heard this, the man started practicing the piano hard. _______, he played the piano much better than before, but he still didn't become famous. He went to ask God once again, “My God! I have _______the piano thoroughly, but why doesn’t you give me any chance to_______ a name yet?”
God shook his head and said, “It’s not that I wouldn't like to _______ you any chance but that you can't grasp the chance. For the first time, I helped you________take part in the piano contest, with nobody knowing about it, but you________ self-confidence; similarly, for the second time, you were short of________.How can you________ me?”
After hearing God's words, the man________hard and consistently for more years. He went all out to improve himself as God told him. He built up his self-confidence and gathered the courage to participate in the competition. He played extremely well, but due to the referee's injustice, the chance of fame was________ by the other.
Totally ________by the failure, the man said to God, “God, I’ve tried my best this time. It seems doomed(注定的) that I won't be able to rise to fame, no matter how strong my________for it is.”
God told him with a________,“Congratulations! In fact, you’ve almost succeeded. You only need a final leap.” “A final leap?” His eyes opened wide.
God ________and said, “You've got the ticket for success-frustration. Now you've got it. Success is a gift that setbacks will give you.” This time, that man bore God's words in mind. As ________,he succeeded.
1.A.unwilling B.uninterested C.unknown D.unable
2.A.mysterious B.learned C.determined D.curious
3.A.fame B.power C.life D.use
4.A.Additionally B.Absolutely C.Approximately D.Alternatively
5.A.tolerated B.talked C.treated D.tried
6.A.Afterwards B.However C.Besides D.Otherwise
7.A.memorized B.possessed C.played D.mastered
8.A.cause B.sense C.make D.change
9.A.prepare B.offer C.provide D.improve
10.A.in turn B.in common C.in secret D.in surprise
11.A.lacked B.ignored C.destroyed D.replaced
12.A.courage B.warning C.freedom D.experience
13.A.stand B.blame C.trust D.complain
14.A.argued B.educated C.trained D.responded
15.A.reduced B.seized C.missed D.wasted
16.A.inspired B.amazed C.embarrassed D.discouraged
17.A.motivation B.attitude C.observation D.patience
18.A.pity B.regret C.shock D.smile
19.A.nodded B.sighed C.cried D.hesitated
20.A.arranged B.scheduled C.expected D.directed
Negative thinking is one of the biggest obstacles(障碍) we face in experiencing happiness, but there's hope. Here are two strategies to help defeat your negative thinking.
1.When you're heading into a social gathering, you begin to wonder what if I don't connect with anyone. Am I even likable? Faced with this situation, do something that lifts your mood.2. For example, listen to a song that makes you smile or take a moment to appreciate people in your life who love you. Positive emotions literally undo the effects of anxiety by lowering our heart rate and muscle tension.
The other is to combat(战斗). 3. But in reality, our minds feed us messages that range from the embellished(渲染的) truth to total lies. Imagine yourself in court. You are the prosecutor(控方律师), and your negative thought is the defendant(被告).4.When he shouts out “You're not good enough at your job”, you need to consult the evidence you have to prove it wrong, argue back with the strongest piece of evidence you can find. Always remember your task is to get the judge to hear your side. So you can say “I am good enough because every performance review I've had has been positive. And my boss told me last week how much she enjoyed working with me. “In a nutshell, bring your best version of a tough lawyer to that courtroom. Convince the judge that the negative thought doesn't deserve attention.
Both of these strategies, to distract and combat, are skills anyone can learn and get better at with practice.5.
A.He's guilty, but he insists that he's not guilty and sticks to his story.
B.Therefore, negative thinking is one of the biggest problems lots of us suffer from.
C.Remember, with each negative thought you defeat, you’ve successfully earned your own happiness.
D.That is, generate a positive emotion.
E.We often believe that our negative thinking is true.
F.There's simply no point focusing on the negative aspect of everything.
G.One is to distract.
Time Travel
If you could travel in time,where would you go?Perhaps you would watch a performance of a Shakespeare's play in Elizabethan England?What about hanging out with Laozi in the Spring and Autumn Period?Or maybe you'd voyage far ahead of the present day to see what the future holds.
The possibility of time travel is indeed appealing.Stories exploring the subject have been around for hundreds of years.Perhaps the best known example is science fiction novel The Time Machine,which was written by H.G.Wells and published in 1895 for the first time.It was adapted into at least two feature films of the same name,as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations.It is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively.The term"time machine",coined by Wells,is now universally used to refer to a vehicle transporting people into the far future.
But could time travel actually be possible?Some scientists say yes,in theory.They propose using cracks in time and space called"wormholes",which could be used as shortcuts to other periods.Einstein's theory of relativity allows time travel in extreme circumstances. And British physicist Stephen Hawking says you could travel into the future with a really fast spaceship-going at nearly the speed of light.Though building such a spaceship would of course be no simple task.
Even if you could travel into the past,there is something called the"grandfather paradox".It asks what would happen if a time traveler were to go back in time and have his own grandfather killed for some reason,and therefore prevent himself from being born.If the time traveler wasn't born,how would he travel back in time?
And would you really like to visit the future?In H.G.Wells' book,the main character travels into distant time where he arrives at a beach and is attacked by giant crabs.He then voyages 30 million years into the future where the only living thing is a black object with tentacles(触角）。
If that's what's in store,maybe we are better just living in the present day after all.
1.The novel The Time Machine mentioned in Paragraph 2 aims to show______.
A.the long history of time travel
B.the contribution of H.G.Wells
C.people's interest in time travel
D.the story's different features
2.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.The Time Machine is one of the bestselling science fiction novels.
B.It was H.G.Wells who invented the term “time machine”.
C.Works of Literature about time travel first appeared one hundred years ago.
D.There are films,comic books and dramas adapted from the novel The Time Machine.
3.Einstein's and Hawking's theories______.
A.have similarities because both are based on experiments
B.suggest the possibility of time travel
C.have been proved wrong by some time travelers
D.have pushed the invention of the first spaceship
4.In Paragraph 4,"grandfather paradox”probably refers to the idea that______.
A.the reunion of the traveler and his grandfather brings happiness
B.the traveler is prevented from meeting his grandfather
C.the traveler goes back in time to seek for his grandfather
D.the grandfather's death makes the traveler's birth impossible
When we talk to our friends online,typing can become a little boring.More often than not,we turn to memes(表情包）to make our conversations more fun. But sometimes, sending the wrong meme can mean trouble.
At least 10 students who were admitted to Harvard University lost their chance to study there after posting offensive memes in a private Facebook group, the university’s student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, reported on June 5.In fact, this was not the first time Harvard had dealt with a case like this. Instead of regular jokes, the memes “went to truly dark and ugly places, joking about Orthodox Jews, the Holocaust and Mexican children,” reported CNN.
At first,the group was meant for would-be Harvard freshmen to get to know each other before they began university.But later,some students set up another group where they traded several offensive memes.When Harvard University found out about the group, it took back the students’ offers.
The incident has caused fierce debates, both in the university and around the world.
“I appreciate humor, but there are so many topics that just should not be joked about.” incoming freshman Jessica Zhang told the Harvard Crimson. “I do not know how those offensive images could be defended.”
However, others believe the university overstepped the boundaries. “It sounds like Harvard is intruding too deeply into the private lives of students, ”Alan Dershowitz, a retired Harvard Law School professor, told The Guardian, “It may affect them for life.”
The university didn’t explain the decision to withdraw the offers,saying it doesn’t comment publicly on the admission of individual applicants.But one of Harvard’s own policies says it has the right to withdraw offers of acceptance if “an admitted student engages in behavior that brings into question his or her honesty,maturity,or moral character”, according to the Harvard Crimson.
1.From the text we can know that .
A.people send memes to make fun of friends during conversations
B.some Harvard students set up a group to get familiar with university courses
C.Harvard University had never dealt with similar cases before
D.Alan Dershowitz thinks it wrong to take back these students’ offers
2.Harvard withdrew the students’ offers probably because .
A.they sent memes online
B.their moral characters were questionable
C.their behavior affected their private lives
D.they joked about Harvard’s policy.
3.What is the writer’s attitude toward the decision?
A.Supportive.
B.Objective.
C.Subjective.
D.Indifferent.
4.Which of the following might be the best title for the text?
A.Harvard Hopefuls Pay Tough Price
B.Harvard Freshmen Face Charges
C.Harvard Draws the Public’s Attention
D.Harvard Focuses on Students’ Privacy
Selena Gomez and I were scheduled to meet at a low-key coffee shop in Encino. Not wanting to keep the superstar waiting, I arrived at nine, 20 minutes early. As I was catching up on e-mails, Selena quietly scooted into the seat next to me. No bodyguard. Not even a drop of makeup. She was ten minutes early and so inconspicuous that no one else in the restaurant looked up so much. Selena was wearing Bebe shorts. She had a baby face and ordered a hot chocolate.
After making small talk about what she wore for the shoot, she dived into the subject of her career. Selena declared 2012 the year of movies. She filmed three: Spring Breakers, a drama; The Getaway, an action flick; and Hotel Transylvania, a comedy. Each is a marked move away from the teen style that made her a household name.
Now that her Disney days are behind her, Selena is at that unstable point in a child star's career where she is trying to grow up-both as a person (she turned 20 in July) and as an artist. “Being part of the Disney Channel was a blessing, and I'm super happy with what my show accomplished, but acting is something I would like to take on more seriously.” She continued, “I don't necessarily feel accomplished. I want to create a whole different persona when it comes to acting.”
Selena has been working full time since she was seven years old and scored a role on Barney & Friends. In 2007, when she was offered the lead in Wizards of Waverly Place, Selena, her mother, and her stepfather uprooted from Grand Prairie, Texas, to LA, where they are settling now.
1.When did Selena arrive at the low-key coffee shop?
A.At 10:00.
B.At 9:10.
C.At 8:50.
D.At 9:30.
2.The underlined word in the first paragraph probably means .
A.unconcerned
B.graceful
C.not easily seen
D.always thinking of others
3.We can learn from Paragraph 2 that .
A.three famous films made in 2012 have shown her teen style
B.Selena went into her film career as soon as we met in the coffee shop
C.each of the three films marks Selena's move away from her teen style
D.the film Hotel Transylvania is an action flick made in 2012
4.What did Selena think of Disney days which were behind her?
A.She thought of playing in Disney as an unstable point in her career.
B.She considered her being part of the Disney Channel a blessing.
C.She didn't feel very satisfied with her show in Disney.
D.She found herself not accomplished in her performance in Disney.
Embassy Suites by Hilton Santa Ana Orange County Airport
Neighborhood: John Wayne Airport(SNA),Orange County,1325 East Dyer Road, Santa Ana, CA
OVERALL GUEST SCORE
Hotel Description
Being close to the airport and freeway access make the Embassy Suites a top choice for our guests in the area. The 300-room Embassy Suites offers homey comforts for those on business and vacation alike-suites with separate living and sleeping areas, refrigerators, microwaves, coffeemakers, Wi-Fi access and two TVs. Wake up to a free cooked-to-order breakfast and enjoy the indoor pool and fitness center. A two-hour evening reception offers drinks and snacks and the on-site restaurant serves American favorites. The property also has a business center with copy and fax services. Parking is available for an additional fee. Less than two miles from I-405,the Embassy Suites is within a half-mile of various restaurants and just three miles from John Wayne Airport. Our guests say the Embassy Suites 'location, "brilliant" breakfast and "friendly" staff make it one of their favorite Santa Ana properties.
Guest Ratings |
Good Feb 8,2017 By: Harold Pros: Loved the breakfast and the friendly, helpful staff. Spacious accommodations made this a very good value. Cons: Didn't love the heating/AC system; room was too cold for comfort. Also was not aware of the parking fee until we checked in. The parking fee was $ 17 a night. |
Good Jan 24,2017 By: Micaela Pros: Breakfast was amazing with a variety of choices and the staff were helpful. Cons: The room had a very strange old smell when we first got there. I had to open the door to air it out. Very Good Jan 5,2017 By: Bruce Pros: The location was very good for us and the included breakfast was a plus. Cons: The room was not cleaned properly when we got there. The heating system was not working for the hotel as well. |
1.What makes the Embassy Suites a top choice for its guests in the area?
A.The business center. B.The friendly staff.
C.The convenient location. D.Wi-Fi access.
2.According to the guest ratings, all the guests are satisfied with its .
A.heating system B.free airport shuttle
C.parking fee D.breakfast
3.This advertisement is made more believable by
A.using guests' comments B.interviewing the guests
C.offering competitive prices D.providing the exact address
