A few years ago I was on a bicycle trip when I got off my bike for a rest. I sat down on the grass. A few seconds later, I was covered in ants. They were swarming all over me so I got up and brushed them off. It was a strange experience but I soon forgot about it.
A couple of years later, I was living in Jordan. I had just moved into a modern flat and was unpacking plates when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at the kitchen drawer and there was a cockroach (蟑螂) crawling out of it. I screamed. Then I grabbed a can of insecticide and sprayed it on the cockroach. He ran under the nearby bathroom door. It took me three days before I found the courage to open the bathroom door to see if he was still alive. He wasn’t.
Why did I react so violently to one lone insect when a closer encounter with hundreds of ants hardly affected me? The answer is easy: because cockroaches are creepy (令人毛骨悚然的) crawlies and ants aren’t. Creepy crawlies are those little bugs which cause feelings such as anxiety - they make your skin crawl.
Did you know that some people feel such a fear of bugs that it becomes a phobia (恐惧症)? Psychologists have offered many explanations. Some say we associate them with dirt and disease. Or that these are life forms that are so alien to us, that we find them disgusting for their dissimilarity.
Insects, however, don’t follow our rules - they just do what they want and invade our space. Unfortunately, although insects and bugs have been a successful animal species up to now, many of them, like many other species nowadays, are under threat of dying out. Entomologists warn that this could upset entire ecosystems and lead to all kinds of disastrous consequences.
So my advice to you is: the next time you feel the urge to stamp on, splatter or spray a creepy crawly, give a thought to the planet and stop.
1... Why did the author mention the ants in the beginning?
A. Because the experience with the ants presents a sharp contrast to that with the cockroach later.
B. Because the author wants to show her preference to the ants and her dislike for the cockroaches.
C. Because both ants and cockroaches are creepy crawlies that the author dislikes.
D. Because meeting the ants is an unusual experience that the author can hardly forget.
2.. The underlined word “insecticide” in Paragraph 2 probably means .
A. a kind of fruit juice B. a kitchen knife
C. liquid for killing insects D. cleanser (洗涤剂)for the bathroom
3.. How does the author feel about bugs like cockroaches?
A. The author doesn’t mind the contact with those harmless small creatures.
B. The author prefers cockroaches to ants and feels guilty for killing one.
C. They invade our space and become a threat to humans.
D. They still deserve a place for keeping the balance of the nature.
4.. Which of the following statements about bugs is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Some people may be frightened so much by bugs that it leads to a psychological barrier to some degree.
B. The earth will have a better and cleaner environment if more creepy crawlies are killed.
C. Many bugs are in danger of dying out so we should not kill them due to fear or disgust.
D. Some bugs are extremely unpleasant that some people have a strong wish to destroy them.
There were red faces at one of Britain’s biggest banks recently. They had accepted a telephone order to buy ￡100,000 worth of shares from a 15-year-old schoolboy (they thought he was 21). The shares fell in value and the schoolboy was unable to pay up. The bank lost ￡20,000 on the deal which it cannot get back, because, for one thing, the young boy does not have the money, for another, being under 18, he is not legally liable for his debts. If the shares had risen in value by the same amount that they fell, he would have pocketed ￡20,000 profit. It certainly is better than delivering the morning newspaper. In another case, a boy of 14 found, in his grandmother’s house, a suitcase full of foreign banknotes. But they were now not used in their country of origin or anywhere else. This young boy headed straight to the nearest bank with his pockets filled with notes. The cashiers did not realize the country in question had reduced the value of its currency by 90%. They exchanged the notes at their face value at the current exchange rate. In three days, before he was found out, he took ￡200,000 from nine different banks. Amazingly, he had already spent more than half of this before the police caught up with him. Because he is also under 18 the banks have kissed goodbye to a lot of money, and several cashiers have lost their jobs.
Should we admire these youngsters for being enterprising and showing initiative or condemn them for their dishonesty? Maybe they had managed for years with tiny amounts of pocket money that they got from tight-fisted parents. Maybe they had done Saturday jobs for peanuts. It is hardly surprising, given the expensive things that young people want to buy, such as fashionable running shoes and computer games, if they sometimes think up more imaginative ways of making money than delivering newspapers. These youngsters saw the chance to make a lot of money and took it.
Another recent story which should give us food for thought is the case of the man who paid his six-year-old daughter￡300 a week pocket money. He then charged her for the food she ate a few coins for her piggy bank（存钱灌）“She will soon learn the value of money, ” he said. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has to be paid for and the sooner she learns that the better.” At the other extreme there are fond parents who provide free bed and board for their grown-up children, While even the most hard-hearted parents might hesitate to throw their children out on the streets, we all know of people in their twenties who still shamelessly live off their parents. Surely there comes a time when everyone has to leave the parental nest, look after themselves and pay their own way in life. But when is it?
1..
Recently one of Britain’s biggest banks _____.
A. bought a lot of shares for a customer and brought him a great loss
B. lost money as its young customer had no money to pay his debts
C. lost much money because the shares they bought fell in value
D. received a telephone order to buy shares for a 21-year-old boy
2..
. The author’s attitude to the example of the two boys who cheated the banks is _____.
A. objective B. subjective C. questioning D. negative
3..
The man paid his daughter ￡300 a week pocket money and then required her to pay for her living expenses because _____.
A. he wanted her to know making money was not easy
B. he wanted to save money for her future education
C. he thought it useful for family members to bear life hardships together
D. he wanted her to learn the value of money
4..
It can be concluded from the passage that the author believes that _____.
A. children should leave the parental nest as soon as possible
B. grown-up children should live on their own
C. children should be taught not to cheat others
D. parents should give more pocket money to their children
With large and small keyboards everywhere, neither children nor adults need to write much of anything by hand. That’s a big problem. Study after study suggests that handwriting is important for brain development — helping kids get fine motor skills and learn to express and create ideas. Yet the time devoted to teaching penmanship in most schools has shrunk to just one hour a week. Is it time to give up handwriting? Have a look at the link between the brain and penmanship, and you may get the answer.
A test among students in grades 2, 4 and 6 found that they not only wrote faster by hand than by keyboard, but also created more ideas when composing essays with handwriting. And other research shows that the finger movements required to write by hand activate brain areas involved with thought, language, and short-term memory.
A recent Indiana University study had one group of children practice writing letters by hand while a second group just looked at those letters. Then, both groups of kids entered a functional MRI (核磁共振)that scanned their brains as the researchers showed them the same letters. Researchers found that the brain activity in the first group was far more advanced and “adult-like”.
Handwriting also affects other people’s way they think of adults and children. Several studies have shown that the same average essay will score much higher if written with good penmanship and much lower if written out in poor handwriting. These studies have also found that people judge the quality of a person’s ideas based on his or her handwriting. And the consequences are real: On standardized tests with handwritten sections, like the SAT, all essay that is considered hard to recognize gets a big zero.
Studies show that this isn’t only an English-language phenomenon. Chinese and Japanese youths are suffering from “character amnesia”. They can’t remember how to write characters, thanks to computers and text messaging. Some experts fear that Chinese writing and reading are so closely linked in the brain that China’s reading ability as a nation could suffer.
1..
What does the Indiana University study imply?
A. Children should practice writing letters
B. Handwriting can increase brain activity
C. It’s good for children to enter a functional MRI.
D. Letters should often be shown to children
2..
What does the 4th paragraph mainly talk about?
A. Handwriting affects both adults and children.
B. Handwriting helps a person write better essays.
C.SAT should be done with good handwriting.
D. Good handwriting makes a person seem smarter.
3..
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Essays written with keyboards will get lower scores.
B. The quality of your ideas depends on your handwriting.
C. Chinese and Japanese youths don’t know how to write.
D. Less handwriting may affect China’s reading ability.
4..
The passage tries to tell us that __________________.
A. keyboards are more popular than handwriting
B. we shouldn’t judge people by their handwriting
C. handwriting is of great importance
D. it’s time to give up using keyboards
The wedding between Prince Wiliam and Kate Middleton on April 29 has focused the world’s camera lenses (镜头) on the UK.
In Britain, there is a constant debate about the relevance (相关性) of the royal family to modern British society. However, Windsor (the family name of the British Royal Family) and Middleton have been seen to represent a more modern, forward-looking nation.
Nigel Baker, the British ambassador to Bolivia, believes that the royal wedding is “about modern Britain”. “The estimated 2 billion spectators across the world will see that Britain is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse nations in the world, home to 270 nationalities speaking 300 different languages, founded on tolerance and respect for difference,” wrote Baker on his blog.
According to Baker, the wedding could help viewers to see “why Britain is one of the most dynamic and creative countries in the world”: The television on which most people watched the event was invented by John Logie Baird, a Briton, and the World Wide Web that broadcast the event to millions more was invented by another Briton, Tim Berners-Lee.
The guests who attended the wedding ceremony gave more than a few clues as to the nature of modern Britain. David and Victoria Beckham represent Britain’s obsession (着迷)with football and celebrity.
Leaders from different religious backgrounds supported Baker’s comments on the multicultural nature of modern British society.
Before the wedding, David Elliott, arts director of the British Council China, agreed that the wedding would be a showcase for modern Britain: “I think, and hope, that it (modern British influence) would be values like openness, multiculturalism, creativity, sense of humor and the traditional British sense of fair play,” he said.
Furthermore, events such as the Olympics in London in 2012 may also increase people’s sense of Britishness.
According to a poll published in Daily Telegraph, more than a third of people in the UK admitted they felt “very British” when watching the Olympics.
1.. What is the point of the article?
A. To introduce Prince William’s wedding arrangements in detail.
B. To comment on the significance of the royal wedding.
C. To question the relevance of the royal family in modern British society.
D. To explain why the royal wedding is linked with the 2012 Olympics.
2.. What can be concluded from the article?
A. Some say that the royal wedding is a reflection on modern Britain.
B Some think the royal wedding shows Britain’s multiculturalism and sense of fair play.
C.About 2 billion people across the world will see the wedding ceremony online.
D. Britons are obsessed with football due to the influence of David Beckham.
3.. Why is the inventor of the World Wide Web mentioned?
A. To inform readers about some well-known British inventors.
B. To point to the importance of the World Wide Web for the wedding.
C. In support of the idea that Britain is a nation of creative and original people.
D. To encourage people to watch the wedding on the Internet.
4.. According to the article, both the 2012 Olympics and the royal wedding .
A. have increased the British sense of national identity
B. have promoted traditional British values
C. represent a more modern Britain
D. have encouraged the interest of Britons in Football
阅读下面两篇短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
I remember the exact moment I learned the principle of preparing for luck.
I was on the wrestling team. Now, if there’s one thing I can tell you about any sport, it is that wrestling is probably the sport that has the least 31 .There are only two people out on the mat, so you cannot 32 it on your teammates or your coach. And guess what? There is no 33 because we do the whole thing indoors, so you can’t say, “It was raining” or “It was snowing.” It makes 34 to say wrestling is the sport with the least luck.
On our team were two world champions; one of them had been a world champion five times. We 35 had five people who were national champions. One of them was a guy 36 the name of John.
John had never been 37 in any high school wrestling competition that I could remember, 38 he was a national champion. There was nobody locally who could touch him.
One day, we 39 a match with our biggest opponent (对手). John went out on the mat, and about a minute and 30 seconds into the match he tried to make a particular 40 He rolled over, and his opponent 41 him halfway through his roll. He was pinned (压住) 42 !
The match was over.
I remember on the way home, one of our teammates tried to 43 John by saying, “Oh, he just got lucky.” John said, “That’s so stupid. The 44 presented itself, and he just took advantage of it.”
We used to have this big 45 in our wrestling room that the coach had put there: “Luck is what happens when opportunity meets 46 .”
John’s opponent was prepared to make use of this opportunity. The possibility of beating John was not 47 and he knew it. But he waited for the 48 opportunity to present itself, and he defeated and pinned a five-time national champion.
In other words, the real 49 is “Be prepared!” It’s not just finding the opportunity; you have to be prepared to 50 it.
1.. A. luck B. risk C. difficulty D. opportunity
2.. A. accuse B. blame C. doubt D. keep
3.. A. stress B. injury C. change D. weather
4.. A. reason B. sure C. safe D. sense
5.. . A. also B. even C. too D. once
6.. A. under B. for C. in D. by
7.. A. hurt B. met C. trained D. defeated
8.. A. although B. as C. yet D. until
9.. A. went for B. waited for C. fought for D. played for
10.. A. act B. step C. task D. move
11.. A. fixed B. threw C. caught D. carried
12.. A. accidentally B. fortunately C. unfairly D. immediately
13.. A. control B. comfort C. convince D. forgive
14.. A. success B. moment C. opportunity D. situation
15.. A. warning B. sign C. sentence D. note
16.. A. occasion B. challenge C. time D. preparation
17.. A. obvious B. strong C. little D. slight
18.. A. equal B. exact C. rest D. right
19.. A. message B. theme C. key D. suggestion
20.. . A. receive B. follow C. seize D. save
Shoppers are also less likely to queue for long if the item they are buying is of low value, and ____ food and drink shopkeepers are having to find new ways to deliver good customer service.
A. in the end B. after all C. as a result D. on the contrary
