“My work is done.” Those words were some of the last penned by George Eastman. He included them in his suicide note. They mark an ignoble end to a noble life, the leave taking of a truly great man. The same words could now be said for the company he left behind. Actually, the Eastman Kodak Company is through. It has been mismanaged financially, technologically and competitively. For 20 years, its leaders have foolishly spent down the patrimony of a century’s prosperity. One of America’s bedrock brands is about to disappear, the Kodak moment has passed.
But George Eastman is not how he died, and the Eastman Kodak Company is not how it is being killed. Though the ends be needless and premature, they must not be allowed to overshadow the greatness that came before. Few companies have done so much good for so many people, or defined and lifted so profoundly the spirit of a nation and perhaps the world. It is impossible to understand the 20th Century without recognizing the role of the Eastman Kodak Company.
Kodak served mankind through entertainment, science, national defense and the stockpiling of family memories. Kodak took us to the top of Mount Suribachi and to the Sea of Tranquility. It introduced us to the merry old Land of Oz and to stars from Charlie Chaplin to John Wayne, and Elizabeth Taylor to Tom Hanks. It showed us the shot that killed President Kennedy, and his brother bleeding out on a kitchen floor, and a fallen Martin Luther King Jr. on the hard balcony of a Memphis motel. When that sailor kissed the nurse, and when the spy planes saw missiles in Cuba, Kodak was the eyes of a nation. From the deck of the Missouri to the grandeur of Monument Valley, Kodak took us there. Virtually every significant image of the 20th Century is a gift to posterity from the Eastman Kodak Company.
In an era of easy digital photography, when we can take a picture of anything at any time, we cannot imagine what life was like before George Eastman brought photography to people. Yes, there were photographers, and for relatively large sums of money they would take stilted pictures in studios and formal settings. But most people couldn’t afford photographs, and so all they had to remember distant loved ones, or earlier times of their lives, was memory. Children could not know what their parents had looked like as young people, grandparents far away might never learn what their grandchildren looked like. Eastman Kodak allowed memory to move from the uncertainty of recollection, to the permanence of a photograph. But it wasn’t just people whose features were savable; it was events, the sacred and precious times that families cherish. The Kodak moment, was humanity’s moment.
And it wasn’t just people whose features were savable; it was events, the precious times that familes cherish. Kodak let the fleeting moments of birthdays and weddings, picnics and parties, be preserved and saved. It allowed for the creation of the most egalitarian art form. Lovers could take one another’s pictures, children were photographed walking out the door on the first day of school, the person releasing the shutter decided what was worth recording, and hundreds of millions of such decisions were made. And for centuries to come, those long dead will smile and dance and communicate to their unborn progeny. Family history will be not only names on paper, but smiles on faces.
The cash flow not just provided thousands of people with job, but also allowed the company’s founder to engage in some of the most generous philanthropy in America’s history. Not just in Kodak’s home city of Rochester, New York, but in Tuskegee and London, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He bankrolled two historically black colleges, fixed the teeth of Europe’s poor, and quietly did good wherever he could. While doing good, Kodak did very well. Over all the years, all the Kodakers over all the years are essential parts of that monumental legacy. They prospered a great company, but they – with that company – blessed the world.
That is what we should remember about the Eastman Kodak Company.
Like its founder, we should remember how it lived, not how it died.
History will forget the small men who have scuttled this company.
But history will never forget Kodak.
1.According to the passage, which of the following is to blame for the fall of Kodak?
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A．The invention of easy digital photography |
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B．The poor management of the company |
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C．The early death of George Eastman |
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D．The quick rise of its business competitors |
2.It can be learnt from the passage that George Eastman .
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A．died a natural death of old age. |
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B．happened to be on the spot when President Kennedy was shot dead. |
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C．set up his company in the capital of the US before setting up its branches all over the world. |
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D．was not only interested in commercial profits, but also in the improvement of other people’s lives. |
3.Before George Eastman brought photography to people, .
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A．no photos has ever been taken of people or events |
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B．photos were very expensive and mostly taken indoors |
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C．painting was the only way for people to keep a record of their ancestors. |
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D．grandparents never knew what their grandchildren looked like. |
4.The person releasing the shutter (Paragraph 5) was the one .
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A．who took the photograph |
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B．who wanted to have a photo taken |
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C．whose decisions shaped the Eastman Kodak Company |
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D．whose smiles could long be seen by their children |
5.What is the writer’s attitude towards the Eastman Kodak Company?
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A．Disapproving |
B．Respectful |
C．Regretful |
D．Critical |
6.Which do you think is the best title for the passage?
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A．Great Contributions of Kodak |
B．Unforgettable moments of Kodak |
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C．Kodak Is Dead |
D．History of Eastman Kodak Company |
I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a box car in a freight yard in Atlantic City and landing on my head. Now I am thirty two. I can slightly remember the brightness of sunshine and what color red is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a calamity(灾难) can do strange things to people. It occurred to me the other day that I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn't been blind. I believe in life now. I am not so sure that I would have believed in it so deeply, otherwise. I don't mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left.
Life, I believe, asks a continuous series of adjustments to reality. The more readily a person is able to make these adjustments, the more meaningful his own private world becomes. The adjustment is never easy. I was totally confused and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me--a potential to live, you might call it--which I didn't see, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. That was basic. If I hadn't been able to do that, I would have collapsed (崩溃) and become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self confidence that helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone. That is part of it. But I mean something bigger than that: an assurance（确信） that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the sweeping, intricate（错综复杂的） pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. It had to start with the simplest things. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was making fun of me and I was hurt. "I can't use this." I said. "Take it with you," he urged me, "and roll it around." The words stuck in my head. "Roll it around! "By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. At Philadelphia's Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a successful variation of baseball. We called it ground ball.
All my life I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good to try for something I knew at the start was wildly out of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.
1.We can learn from the beginning of the passage that _______
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A．the author lost his sight because of a car crash. |
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B．the author wouldn't love life if the disaster didn't happen. |
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C．the disaster made the author appreciate what he had. |
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D．the disaster strengthened the author's desire to see. |
2.What's the most difficult thing for the author?
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A．How to adjust himself to reality. |
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B．Building up assurance that he can find his place in life. |
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C．Learning to manage his life alone. |
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D．How to invent a successful variation of baseball. |
3.According to the context, "a chair rocker on the front porch" in paragraph 3 means that the author __________
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A．would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life. |
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B．would be unable to move and stay in a rocking chair. |
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C．would lose his will to struggle against difficulties. |
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D．would sit in a chair and stay at home. |
4.According to the passage, the baseball and encouragement offered by the man _____
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A．hurt the author's feeling. |
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B．gave the author a deep impression. |
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C．directly led to the invention of ground ball. |
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D．inspired the author. |
5.What is the best title for the passage?
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A．A Miserable Life |
B．Struggle Against Difficulties |
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C．A Disaster Makes a Strong Person |
D．An Unforgetable Experience |
Below is some advice on how to prevent cancer:
8 Ways to Avoid Cancer in Your Life
1. Eat Blueberries
Aside from being a healthy and delicious snack, blueberries contain pterostilbene, which has important colon（结肠） cancer-fighting prosperities. But wait, it gets better. Blueberries also offer a large dose of vitamins C (14 milligrams per cup). So at breakfast, try to take in a cup and a half of blueberries in your cereal or yogurt, or mixed with other berries.
2. Drink Pomegranate（石榴）Juice
The deep red juice of the pomegranate contains polyphenols, isoflavones and ellagic acid, which together create a powerful anticancer mixture. Most recently, researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison has discovered that 16 ounces of pomegranate juice per day also may inhibit the growth of lung cancer.
3. Relax
Feeling stressed or worried? Find ways to relax and you may reduce your chances of developing cancer. Purdue University researchers tracked 1,600 men over 12 years and found that half of those with high levels of worry died during the study period. Only 20 percent of the optimists died before the study were completed, while 34 percent of the extremely anxious men died of some type of cancer. Instead of stressing about the past or future, focus on the present and relax!
4. Take Selenium（硒）
Selenium is well known for its cancer-fighting properties. In a study of almost 1,000 men, researchers from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that when men with the lowest initial levels of selenium in their bodies received a daily supplement over a 4 year period, they cut their prostate（前列腺） cancer risk by a remarkable 92 percent. However, it is possible to get too much of a good thing, so monitor your intake of selenium-containing supplements, Brazil nuts, tuna, meats and grains carefully.
5. Eat Sushi（寿司）
Seaweed may not be your idea of a great snack, but it is high in fiber, calcium and iron, and dry, roasted seaweed sheets used in sushi provide the additional benefits of vitamins A and C. Sushi rolls are also high in protein— a typical spicy tuna roll has only 290 calories but packs 24 grams of protein. So don’t skimp（节省）on the Sushi!
6. Enjoy the Outdoors
Vitamin D causes early death of cancer cells. A study published in the American Journey of Clinical Nutrition reported that women who supplemented their diets with 1,000 international. Units of vitamin D every day had a 60 percent to 77 percent lower incidence of cancer ever a four-year period that did women taking a placebo(无效对照剂). Experts recommend supplementing your fun in the sun with 1,100 to 2,000IU of vitamin D each day.
7. Breathe Clean Air
There’s no question that secondhand smoke kills. A recent American Journal of Public Health study showed that nonsmokers working in smoky places had three times the amount of carcinogen（致癌物质） in their urine（尿） than nonsmokers working in smoke-free locations. What’s worse, their levels of the carcinogen rose 6 percent for every hour worked. Nine states have banned smoking in all workplaces, bars and restaurants. The message is clear: Do whatever you can to avoid the cloud of smoke.
8. Break a Sweat
Even a small amount of exercise can offer major cancer-fighting benefits. In a study of 29,110 men published in the International Journal of Cancer, men who exercised just once a week had a percent lower risk of metastasis(转移性) prostate cancer than men who didn’t work out at all. The better the frequency, duration and intensity of the exercise, the bigger the reduction in risk, according to the study.
1.To prevent yourself from catching colon cancer, you should eat ____ as often as possible.
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A．sushi |
B．blueberries |
C．pomegranates |
D．Vitamin D |
2.A person is very likely to catch some type of cancer if ______.
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A．he is very fond of exercise every day. |
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B．he is addicted to smoking |
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C．he is always feeling extremely stressed or worried |
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D．he likes to have meals in restaurants |
3._____ will remarkably reduce the risk of men’s prostate cancer.
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A．Having a daily supplement of selenium |
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B．Drinking a cup of pomegranate juice every day |
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C．Breathing fresh air now and then |
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D．Taking exercise at least once a week |
4.If you want to keep cancer away, it is particularly important to ______.
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A．have a daily supplement of vitamins B and C |
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B．try to ignore the secondhand smoking |
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C．take in as many selenium-containing supplements as possible |
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D．having exercise as often as possible |
Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, jerky （急动的）movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate. Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span(范围)or the visual span. The length of time of which the eyes stop ---the duration of the fixation (定位)----varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within any one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive (连续的) fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently (因此), for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated (孤立的) words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
1.The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts except ________ .
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A．one’s familiarity with the text |
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B．one’s purpose in reading |
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C．the length of a group of words |
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D．lighting and tiredness |
2.The author may believe that reading ______.
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A．requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation |
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B．requires a reader to see words more quickly |
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C．demands an deeply-participating mind |
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D．demands more mind than eyes |
3.What does the author mean by saying “but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently.” in the second paragraph?
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A．The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted. |
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B．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see and to comprehend words. |
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C．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading. |
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D．The reading exercises mentioned has done a great job to improve one’s ability to see words. |
4.Which of the following is NOT true?
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A．The visual span is a word or a group of words we see each time. |
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B．Many experts began to question the efficiency of eye training. |
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C．The emphasis on the purely visual aspects is misleading. |
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D．The eye training will help readers in reading a continuous text. |
5.The tune of the author in writing this article is ________
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A．critical (批评的) |
B．neutral (中立的) |
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C． pessimistic （悲观的 ） |
D．optimistic |
Ever since I was little I loved doing things for other people. As I got older I began doing random ( 随意的 ) things for people. For example, during holidays, such as Christmas, I would make an extra 21 along with the ones for my relatives. Then I would go and find someone in the grocery store and just hand it to them and walk away. It was so much fun. I admit, 22 , the first time I did it I was so 23 . I didn’t know who to give the card to. So I said a little prayer and knew that the 24 person would just appear. About that time an elderly man ran 25 me with his shopping cart. It was an accident, and he 26 a million times. We smiled and he walked away, and I knew that he was the one. Later I found him in a different isle(过道), handed him the card, and smiled. I said Happy Holidays, and then walked away. It was so great, and the 27 I had afterwards was unexplainable.
Then one day I came across your website (the coolest website ever) and 28 some Smile Cards. When they came in, I started a new project. When I go into a store, I locate a person who I think needs a 29 . Then, I buy a flower, a carnation, to be exact, and 30 it in the most beautiful paper they have. I tie lots of ribbons on it to make it 31 , and then slip the smile card into an envelope and 32 it to the flower. After that, I pay for it and explain to the cashier 33 it is to go to (I live in a pretty small town so it’s easy to get the help of the cashiers). They then give it to that person when they come through.. Once in a while I’ll buy the flower and then just leave it for the cashier. That gets smiles.
My favorite time was when I picked out this elderly woman who was walking around the 34 somewhat confused. I had come across her numerous times and she only smiled slightly once. When she came to the check out (I was watching from outside) her face 35 and the smile was the biggest I had ever seen. Later that week the cashier whom I had had 36 me told me that the lady had been so surprised and while she was walking out with the grocery bag to her car, she was planning what she was going to do for someone else. It was awesome.
I absolutely love the random acts of kindness cards. I 37 at least two in my purse and others in my car, locker and everywhere I go. As I mentioned, my club, STARS, is doing a Random Acts of Kindness Project with the smile cards so they also are using them. I look forward to hearing about their success. It’s really great. I 38 used them in school. I bought my entire math class cans of pop after lunch one day. They came in from lunch and a can of pop and a smile card were setting 39 that day. It totally lightened the mood in the class that day 40 we were studying for a test. Thank you for all of the help that you provide. The smile cards are a great program that brings smiles into the lives of many!
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Attracting _____ senior citizens, Florida is _____ home to the largest population of elder Americans.
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A．不填; 不填 |
B．the; the |
C．the; 不填 |
D．不填; a |
