Why does night fall but never break and day break but never fall?
Why are people who ride motorcycles called bikers and people who ride bikes called cyclists?
In what other language do people drive in a parkway and park in a driveway?
In what other language do they call the third hand on the clock the second hand?
Let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.
And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese — so one moose, two meese?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of human beings. That’s why, when stars are out, they are visible; but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.
1. According to the passage ______.
|
A．sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things |
|
B．there should be egg in an eggplant |
|
C．pineapples are the apples on the pine tree |
|
D．boxing rings should be round |
2.Which of the following includes two items which have the similar meaning?
|
A．A wise man and a wise guy. |
|
B．Overlook and oversee. |
|
C．Quite a lot and quite a few. |
|
D．Hot as hell and cold as hell. |
3.The underlined words “wind up” in the last paragraph probably mean “______”.
|
A．blow |
B．roll up |
C．get hurt |
D．finish |
4. Through the many paradoxes in the English language, the writer wants to show that human beings are ______.
A
The choice to adopt and hold gratefulness is the one that is different from those who suffer misfortune and those who enjoy a full life.
My mother died when I was 24. It was a very difficult time in my life — everything seemed to fall apart. I lost my job, and then my utilities were turned off. I had to take cold showers for six months. A neighbor who knew about my situation came to my house and made me an offer. I took care of her children as a job, and I no longer went hungry. I was surprised that someone would trust me — a young woman with her children. And it was with the very confidence that before long I began taking care of other people’s children, too. I have since moved 300 miles from Boise, Idaho. For more than 23 years I have made every effort to reach out to all the kind-hearted people who helped me when I was down and out. Without their trust, I don’t know what I would have done. I am very involved in my community and volunteer at the local food bank, and I help out whenever I can. I’d like to owe what I am to whoever has offered me generosity.
If you are grateful for what you already have, the world will work together to give you more to be grateful for. Otherwise, the world will give you more to complain about.
Moreover, the true master learns to be grateful, in advance, for the things that are desired, because, being grateful in advance for some attainment or accomplishment does two very important things: one…it tricks your subconscious into believing that the goal is certain and two…it convinces other people, with whom you must interact to achieve your desires, that you know what you are about, that you are a winner, not a whiner (哀诉者).
1.The underlined word “utilities” refers to __________ in the passage.
|
A．water and gas supplies |
B．gas and electricity supplies |
|
C．shower equipment and water supply |
D．heating and TV signals |
2.The writer was grateful mainly for ___________.
|
A．his neighbor’s donation |
B．his community |
|
C．having got the job |
D．others’ trust |
3.The writer’s personal story in the second paragraph tells us that __________.
|
A．to be grateful will get you nowhere but away from home |
|
B．a grateful person is most likely to be successful |
|
C．we need to be grateful to be helpful and useful |
|
D．the fragrance (芳香) stays in the hand that gives the rose |
4.The best title for the passage would be ____________.
|
A．A Thank-You Note to Trusting Neighbor |
|
B．You Are a Winner, Not a Whiner |
|
C．Be Grateful to Life in Advance |
|
D．Gratefulness Brings a Great Fullness to Life |
完型填空。（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从下列各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项.
Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to ___31___ a passager at 2:30 a.m. When I arrived to ___32___ the passager, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.
I walked to the___33___ and knocked,“Just a minute,”answered a weak ,elderly voice. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman ___34___ her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
I took the suitcase to the car,and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness.“It’s __35____,”I told her,“I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother __36____.”
“Oh, you’re such a good man,”she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me a/an ___37___,and then asked,“could you drive ___38___ downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,”I answered quickly.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,”she said,“I’m on my way to a hospice(临终医院).I don’t have any family left. The doctot says I don’t have very long.”
I ___39____ reached over and__40____ the meter(计价器)
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the buildings, __41____ the manufactory where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived , and the furniture shop __42____had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to solw down in front of a __43____ building and would sit staring into the darkness, say nothing.
__44____, she suddenly said,“I’m tired, Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“___45___ do I owe you?”she asked.
“Nothing,”I said.
“You ___46___ make a living,”she answered. “Oh, there are other ___47_____.”I answered.
Almost without thinking. I __48____ and gave her a hug. She __49____ me. Our hug ended with her remark,“You gave an old woman a little moment of __50____.”
|
1. |
|
|
2. |
|
3..
|
A．window |
B．room |
C．taxi |
D．door |
|
4. |
|
|
5. |
|
|
6. |
|
|
7. |
|
|
8. |
|
|
9. |
|
|
10. |
|
|
11. |
|
|
12. |
|
13.
|
A．beautiful |
B．normal |
C．unusual |
D．particular |
|
14. |
|
|
15. |
|
|
16. |
|
17.
|
A．people |
B．travellers |
C．customers |
D．passengers |
|
18. |
|
|
19. |
|
|
20. |
|
The stronger the ___________ is, the more quickly a person will learn a foreign language. That is to say, it is up to whether he has an interest in the foreign language.
|
A．inspiration |
B．ambition |
C．motivation |
D．aspiration |
It would be unwise to _______ much significance ________ these opinions.
|
A．accuse…of |
B．attach… to |
C．take… over |
D．concentrate… on |
Liu Xiang, I have to say, is highly occupied. He is not_____ for any interview at the moment.
|
A．convenient |
B．responsible |
C．reasonable |
D．available |
