The Writers' Strike：Making the Best of the Worst
By now you are probably feeling the effects of the TV writers' strike－the decision of television writers to stop working. With few new TV shows, I present to you a list of shows available on DVD worth your viewing time to keep you going during this painful period.
Arrested Development is one of the funniest and most clever shows ever to have appeared on network TV. With a most perfect cast, the show sets out to cover the daily happenings of the Bluth family, a group of selfish staff who manage to still put family first.
For more comedy goodness, I recommend one of the sharpest comedies to have ever aired－30 Rock. Starring Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, two stars with impressive comic timing，the show gives you a glimpse into the making of a sketch show(幽默短剧), similar to Saturday Night Live, from the funny writers to the selfcentered cast all the way up to the boss.
If you are looking for something more serious, or perhaps more juicy, Friday Night Lights might be more to your liking. If you are a fan of football, this show is probably for you. If you are a fan of great drama，both soapy and serious，this show is probably for you. If you are a fan of goodlooking people, this show is definitely for you.
If those shows were not enough for you, might I recommend a show with a more heartpounding excitement? The Amazing Race, after twelve seasons, still remains one of the most exciting shows on TV. Teams of two travel the globe with little to no money and experience farout adventures in an attempt to remain the last team standing.
1.If you are fond of soapy TV shows, you will probably choose to watch________.
A．Friday Night Lights
B．30 Rock
C．The Amazing Race
D．Saturday Night Live
2.From the DVD shows listed above, we can learn that________.
A．two teams won the amazing race
B．football fans enjoy The Amazing Race
C．the Bluths care about their family though selfish
D．30 Rock and Saturday Night Live have nothing in common
3.The author writes the passage to tell us that________.
A．the effects of the TV writers' strike are great
B．the strike puts TV shows in the worst situation
C．watching DVD is a good choice during the strike
D．we should choose DVD shows according to our tastes
4.The passage is most probably taken from
A．a book review B．a newspaper C．a film poster D．a DVD menu
When Callie Rogers won almost 1.9 million pounds on the lottery(彩票) at 16, she hoped it would help her put her troubles behind her. The teenager came from a broken home, had dropped out of school and was living in local authority care.
Rogers, from Cumbria, England, won the National Lottery in 2003. Then she began spending her money wildlly, buying four homes for her family, flash cars and designer clothes, partying and having some cosmetic (整容的) surgery. Two weeks after her win, she married and had two children. But then she spent 250, 000 pounds on cocaine (可卡因) and suffered depression. Earlier this year she lost the right to take care of her children because of her mental state.
She became addicted to drugs and attempted suicide three times as her life unraveled. She says the money brought her only misery. Now she is down to her last 100 000 pounds, but she has never been happier.
Now 22, she said：“Just a few months ago I was taking too many drugs and hated myself. I simply did not want to live any more. But now I have a new man and am finally becoming the woman I want to be. And it's only after I've spent most of my fortune that this has finally happened.”
“I need to get my act together and make my kids proud, and for the first time I really do think that's possible.” She credits her new boyfriend with giving her the stable home life she has always longed for and she now hopes to go to college and eventually become a counselor. “After all I've experienced, I think I have a lot of advice to offer，” she said.
1.Why was Rogers not allowed to look after her children?
A. She was in a bad mental state. B. She was addicted to using drugs.
C. She was not responsible for them. D. She was too poor to support them.
2.What can we learn about Rogers from Paragraph 3?
A. Being addicted to drugs cost her everything.
B. Money didn't bring her happiness as expected.
C. Rogers felt much happier with her money gone.
D. Too much money allowed her to do what she wanted.
3.What caused Rogers to change and start a new life?
A．The loss of money. B．Her bitter past.
C．Her husband and children. D．Her new boyfriend.
4.Why does Rogers hope to go to college?
A．She intends to find a good job. B．She expects to become a professor.
C．She longs to improve her situation. D．She wants to offer advice for others.
My wife passed away a few years ago, and I went through the worst time in my life. I even wanted to kill myself. Just for my kids, I had to continue to live and work as a small town doctor at my medical clinic in Hawaii. My kids had gone to live on the mainland, and I was alone. Then they asked me to have a family trip.
On our trip, we turned on the TV at the motel and saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. Seeing it falling down, I said to my kids：“ I'm going to Afghanistan.”And a few weeks later, International Medical Corps sent me to set up 20 clinics in provinces where people had no health care. In these field clinics surrounded by frightening shoots or deadly bombs ，we were eventually serving 27,000 patients a month in a very busy schedule.Tired and nervous, I gradually had a sense of achievement, a sense of purpose, and my depression went away.
In the years to follow, I went to Indonesia after the tsunami (海啸), Pakistan after the earthquakes, Sudan after the civil war, and Iraq after more and more bombs. Each time after disasters one after another, hundreds of people were killed, wounded and many more had to flee. We once set up movable clinics in an area with 19,000 refugees,_and it was supposed to hold 13,000 originally. Flu broke out, one of the biggest killers of kids in refugee camps, and it spread like wildfire. Water and food were also serious problems. “Adventure or not？”I often asked myself.
When my wife passed away, I thought my life was gone. But in reality, it was just getting started. At the end of her life, she went unconscious. I held her head in my hands and told her of all the places we would visit and the exciting adventures we would have.
I thought about the moment many times during my“adventures”. I didn't know how predictive those words would be，but I knew that she was still with me.
1.Where has the doctor been in the past few years?
A．Some countries where he could set up clinics.
B．Some African countries where flu broke out.
C．The places where the earthquakes happened.
D．The places that the horrible disasters struck.
2.How would the doctor describe his life after he had worked in Afghanistan?
A．Tired and troublesome. B．Busy and risky.
C．Meaningful and helpful. D．Frightening and depressing.
3.The underlined word“ refugees” means people________.
A．who are robbed, killed, or wounded B．who suffer from flu in movable clinics
C．who like to take adventures D．who have lost homes because of disasters
4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A．The doctor's wife encouraged him to work in foreign countries.
B．What the doctor said to his wife before her death became reality.
C．The doctor's adventures made him understand the love of his wife.
D．With the true love of his wife, the doctor started to change his life.
Pregnancy(妊娠) and childbirth kill more than 536,000 women a year. More than half of the cases happened in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. In fact, most of the deaths are preventable with basic medical care.
The five leading causes are bleeding, infection, high blood pressure, longtime labor and bad abortions (流产). Mothers' deaths from such causes were largely reduced nearly a century ago in developed countries.
Experts say that what kill many women are “the three delays”— the woman's delay in deciding to go to the hospital, the time she loses traveling there and the hospital's delay in starting treatment. Only about 15 percent of births have dangerous complications(并发症)．
Women lack education and information about birth control. Husbands and inlaws, may decide where a woman gives birth and insist that she stay at home to save money. However, there is no single solution to a problem with so many factors—shortages of doctors, nurses, drugs, equipment, roads and transportation—though hospital officials are trying many things now.
One stopgap measure to solve the problem for the present has been to train assistant medical officers, to perform certain operations. Some African countries are now struggling to train more assistants and midwives (接生婆) , and provide places for pregnant women to stay near hospitals.
But there is a long way to go. Only 20 percent of women in the continent give birth at the hospital. More than 50 percent stay at home to give birth, and the rest go to local clinics that cannot handle emergencies.
1.Which is not included in the five leading causes of women's deaths during pregnancy and childbirth?
A. Infection. B. High blood pressure.
C. Traveling long distances. D. Bleeding.
2.The underlined word “stopgap” probably means “________ ”in the passage.
A. final B. temporary C. effective D. instant
3.What can we learn from this passage?
A. The governments of African countries have to take more effective measures to save pregnant women.
B. Developed countries should help African countries reduce mothers'deaths.
C. The husbands in poor countries should take responsibility for their wives'deaths.
D. Most problems that cause women's deaths during pregnancy and childbirth can be treated or prevented.
4.What is the author's attitude towards the future of preventing women's deaths during pregnancy and childbirth?
A. Positive. B. Negative. C. Objective. D. Subjective.
I used to believe in the American dream that meant a job，credit and success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us separately chasing the same thing.
One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell apart. I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $ 56. I searched the countryside for some place I could rent for the cheapest possible amount. I came upon a deserted cottage in a small remote valley.I hadn't been alone for 25 years. I was scared, but I hoped the hard work would distract and heal me.
I found the owner and rented the place for$ 50 a month.The locals knew nothing about me. But slowly they started teaching me the art of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, tools and canned deer meat and began sticking around to chat. They would ask if I wanted to meet cousin Albie or go fishing. They started to teach me a belief in a different American dream, not the one of individual achievement but of neighborliness. Men would stop by with wild berries, ice cream or truck parts to see if I was up for courting. I wasn't, but they were civil anyway.The woman on that mountain worked harder than any I'd ever met. They taught me how to store food in the stream and keep it cold and safe._I_learned_to_keep_enough_for_an_extra_plate_for_company.
What I had believed in, all those things I thought were necessary for a civilized life, were nonexistent in this place.Up on the mountain, my most valuable possessions were my relationships with my neighbors.
After four years in that valley, I moved back into town. I saw a lot of people were having a really hard time, losing their jobs and homes. With the help of a real estate broker (房地产经纪人) I chatted up at the grocery store, I managed to rent a big enough house to take in a handful of people. It's four of us now，but over time I've had nine come in and move on to other places from here. We'd all be in shelters if we hadn't banded together.
The American dream I believe in now is a shared one. It's not so much about what I can get for myself; it's about how we can all get by together.
1.Before a series of unhappy events happened, the writer________.
A．had a wellpaid job B．worked hard for his American dream
C．worked hard and liked to share D．felt hopeless about his American dream
2.What does the underlined word “it” in the second paragraph refer to?
A．The house. B．The job.
C．The company. D．The American dream.
3.
4.
Learning to save money when you're young is an important lesson. All good lessons and habits begin early, and saving is a skill that everyone __36__. Many people—adults included—do not have a good __37__ of saving for the long run.
I have been _38__ to learn this lesson early because I have had a grass cutting business since I was 10 years old. 39__ the money I make I spend about 10 percent and save the other 90.
Making sure you save and don't spend too much is a good way to __40__ wealth. I have put my earnings in a bank. Many teens I know spend all the money they earn so it never has a chance to _41__. Young people should __42_ that their teenage years are a great time to begin saving.
If you have a job at high school, you _43__ have fun with some of the money. But you should also save some __44__ it will grow. Then you can begin planning for your future. When you spend money, you not only lose that money, __45__ lose the interest you could have earned by saving it.
After high school, college is __46__， with expenses such as food and rent. If you can __47__ a good percentage of the money you earn as a teen, going to college and buying a house will be much easier. If you are in your thirties without any savings, you will always have to __48__.
Later in life it can be hard to start saving _49__ general cost of living is more expensive and you may only have enough to pay your _50__. If you want to buy a house and have a family, you need money to start with, which __51__ saving.
Many say money cannot make you happy, and this is true. But money can help you to lead a __52__ life.
Saving early will mean you will have to work for fewer years when you are older. It will also __53___ you to spend time doing the things that you want to do.__54__， it will mean you can live the way you want to without 55__.
1.A. needs B. likes C. arranges D. expects
2.A. knowledge B. experience C. form D. sense
3.A. foolish B. fundamental C. lucky D. grateful
4.A. With B. Of C. In D. From
5.A. divide up B. build up C. keep up D. make up
6.A. break B. run C. make D. grow
7.A. recognize B. realize C. research D. doubt
8.A. must B. dare C. should D. may
9.A. so that B. in case C. in that D. but for
10.A. but B. and C. also D. or
11.A. expensive B. cheap C. boring D. bitter
12.A. hold out B. hold up C. hold onto D. hold back
13.A. survive B. struggle C. tolerate D. die
14.A. if B. as long as C. while D. since
15.A. bills B. taxes C. attention D. consequences
16.A. results from B. gets from C. comes from D. escapes from
17.A. happy B. simple C. miserable D. secure
18.A. forbid B. allow C. Advise D. request
19.A. In addition B. Above all C. On the contrary D. Believe it or not
20.A. consulting B. worrying C. resting D. thinking
