What makes one person more intelligent than another? What makes one person a genius, like the brilliant Albert Einstein, and another person a fool? Are people born intelligent or stupid, or is intelligence the result of where and how you live? These are very old questions and the answers to them are still not clear.
We know, however, that just being born with a good mind is not enough. In some ways, the mind is like a leg or an arm muscle. It needs exercise. Mental exercise is particularly important for young children. Many child psychologists (心理学家) think that parents should play with their children more often and give them problems to think about. The children are then more likely to grow up bright and intelligent. If, on the other hand, children are left alone a great deal with nothing to do, they are more likely to become dull and unintelligent.
Parents should also be careful with what they say to young children. According to some psychologists, if parents are always telling a child that he or she is a fool or an idiot, then the child is more likely to keep doing silly and foolish things. So it is probably better for parents to say very positive things to their children, such as “That was a very clever thing you did.” or “You are such a smart child.”
1.The words “intelligent” and “brilliant” in the first paragraph probably mean _______ while “dull” in the second paragraph means ________.
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A．bright and splendid; slow in thinking and understanding |
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B．pretty and handsome; ordinary-looking |
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C．great and important; common |
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D．hopeful and helpful; careless |
2.According to the context we can guess that a genius is ________ while an idiot is ________.
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A．a normal person; a funny person |
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B．a strong person; a weak person |
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C．a highly intelligent person; a foolish or weak-minded person |
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D．a famous person; an ordinary person |
3. A person ________ is more likely to become a genius.
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A．whose parents are clever |
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B．often thinking about difficult problems |
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C．often helped by his parents and teachers |
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D．born with a good brain and putting it into active use |
4. It is better for parents ________.
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A．to praise and encourage their children more often |
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B．to be hard on their children |
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C．to leave their children alone with nothing to do |
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D．to give their children as much help as possible |
5.Which of the following is NOT true according to the article?
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A．Parents play an important part in their children’s growth. |
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B．The less you use your mind the duller you may become. |
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C．Intelligence is obviously the result of where and how you live. |
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D．What makes a person bright or stupid is still under discussion. |
O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank, when some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader’s surprise.
1. In which order did O. Henry do the following things?
a. Lived in New York. b. Worked in a bank. c. Travelled to Texas.
d. Was put in prison. e. Had a newspaper Job. f. Learned to write stories.
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A．e. c. f. b. d. a |
B．c. e. b. d. f. a |
C．e. b. d. c. a. f. |
D．c. b. e. d. a f. |
2.People enjoyed reading O. Henry’s stories because
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A．they had surprise endings |
B．they were easy to understand |
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C．they showed his love for the poor |
D．they were about New York City |
3.O. Henry went to prison because .
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A．people thought he had stolen money from the newspaper |
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B．he broke the law by not using his own name |
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C．he wanted to write stories about prisoners |
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D．people thought he had taken money that was not his |
4.What do we know about O. Henry before he began writing?
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A．He was well-educated. |
B．He was not serious about his work. |
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C．He was devoted to the poor. |
D．He was very good at learning. |
5.Where did O. Henry get most material for his short stories?
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A．His life inside the prison. |
B．The newspaper articles he wrote. |
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C．The city and people of New York. |
D．His exciting early life as a boy. |
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is about, It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich life--style of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories, He called it ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ because ‘Jones’ is a very common name in the United States.’ Keeping up with the Joneses’ came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are ‘Jonses’ in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
1.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.
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A．want to be as rich as their neighbours |
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B．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
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C．don’t want others to know they are rich |
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D．want to be happy |
2.It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.
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A．live outside New York City |
B．live in New York City |
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C．live in apartments |
D．have many neighbours |
3.The underlined word neighbourhood in the second paragraph means ________.
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A．a person who lives near another |
B．people living in an area |
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C．an area near the place referred to |
D．an area in another town or city |
4. Arthur Momand used the name ‘Jones’ in his series of short stories because’ Jones’ is ________.
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A．an important name |
B．a popular name in the United States |
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C．his neighbour’s name |
D．not a good name |
5.According to the writer, it is to keep up with the Joneses.
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A．correct |
B．interesting |
C．impossible |
D．good |
阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空。
This morning, 1. I finished my homework, I went to the People’s Park together with my classmate Mary to fly a kite. We got a very nice kite, and it was 2. a lovely day that we were sure to have a lot of fun. I began to fly 3. kite. Once it went up into the sky, I began to run very fast, in the hope that it would go higher and higher. Then suddenly I felt something wrong. 4. (look) up into the sky, I was 5.(disappoint) to find that the kite had got 6. (break). In no time the kite and rope fell over me. What a fool! I sat on the grass, feeling rather7. (shame) of what I had done. Then Mary 8.(comfort) me, saying “Now, you know what makes a kite fly high. It’s9. (patient) and skills!”10. (hear) this, I nodded my head.
Today, many people are starving to death. Recently, a man who wanted to understand the conditions of such people conducted an experiment. He only ate one meal a day for a month but continued to work as he normally did.
During the first five days he was hungry at his 1 mealtime, but after he had drunk a glass of water, his hunger went away. In the morning, when he ate his one meal, he ate quickly and had a 2 amount. During the next few days, 3 he was not hungry during the day, he quickly 4 every food stall (a table on which food is put to be sold), and the smell of food caught his 5 . During the third and the fourth weeks, he had hunger pains and 6 physical strength. He 7 his one meal and ate it slowly, enjoying every bite. 8 it, he knew he would have hardly enough energy to work.
This 9 changed his attitude about some things. Having a cup of tea was not just a pastime. It also 10 him strength. He more frequently noticed overweight people and people who threw 11 leftover food. He realized the importance of 12 for the very hungry person. He could no longer easily 13 by a hungry beggar on the street. But most 14 , he could now sympathize(同情) in a 15 way with the hungry people of the world.
1．A．after B．formal C．regular D．frequent
2．A．large B．small C．ordinary D．common
3．A．if B．when C．as if D．although
4．A．recognized B．noticed C. glanced D．digested
5．A．eyes B．imagination C．attention D．interest
6．A．needed B．lacked C．required D．wanted
7．A．looked forward to B．devoted himself to
C．looked down upon D．took pride in
8．A．With B．Without C．Rather than D．Except for
9．A．action B．movement C．experiment D．performance
10．A．gained B．gave C．took D．left
11．A．in B．up C．away D．about
12．A．food B．meals C．money D．work
13．A．come B．pass C．stand D．stop
14．A．fortunately B．seriously C．necessary D．important
15．A．great B．big C．small D．similar
书面表达（本题有1小题，共20分）
假如你是李华，你的美国笔友Tom给你写信，想了解你校中学生的课外活动。根据下列提示，写一篇100字左右的信。
提示：1. 有很多兴趣小组，数学、计算机、科学、英语、歌舞等，还有乐队和很多体育运动队，学生可根据个人爱好参加。
2. 学生们每天都参加活动，最喜欢的活动是球类运动，大家过得很愉快。
3. 越来越多的学生参加英语角，因为这对英语学习很有好处。
（1）文章须包含上述要点，并适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
（2）词数：100左右，开头已写好，不计入总词数。
Dear Tom,
I’m glad to receive your letter. ________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
