Sir Steven Redgrave
Winner of 5 Olympic Gold Medals
“In 1997 I was found to have developed diabetes (糖尿病). Believing my career was over, I felt extremely low. Then one of the specialists said there was no reason why I should stop training and competing. That was it — the encouragement I needed. I could still be a winner if I believed in myself. I am not saying that it isn’t difficult sometimes. But I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn‘t finished yet. Nothing is to stand in my way.”
Karen Pickering
Swimming World Champion
“I swim 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. I manage that sort of workload by putting it on top of my diary. This is the key to success — you can’t follow a career in any field without being well-organized. List what you believe you can achieve. Trust yourself, write down your goals for the day, however small they are, and you’ll be a step closer to achieving them.”
Kirsten Best
Poet & Writer
“When things are getting hard, a voice inside my head tells me that I can’t achieve something. Then, there are other distractions, such as family or hobbies. The key is to concentrate. When I feel tense, it helps a lot to repeat words such as ‘calm’, ‘peace’ or ‘focus’, either out loud or silently in my mind. It makes me feel more in control and increases my confidence. This is a habit that can become second nature quite easily and is a powerful psychological tool”
1.What does Sir Steven Redgrave mainly talk about?
A. Difficulties influenced his career.
B. Specialists offered him medical advice.
C. Training helped him defeat his disease.
D. He overcame the shadow of illness to win.
2.What does Karen Pickering put on top of her diary?
A. Her training schedule.
B. Her daily happenings.
C. Her achievements.
D. Her sports career.
3.What does the underlined word “distractions” probably refer to?
A. Ways that help one to focus.
B. Words that help one to feel less tense.
C. Activities that turn one’s attention away.
D. Habits that make it hard for one to relax.
4.According to the passage, what do the three people have in common?
A. Courage. B. Devotion.
C. Hard work. D. Self-confidence.
5.Where do you think you can find this passage?
A. Popular Science. B. Historical Events.
C. Successful People. D. Political Systems.
Some people are lucky enough to be born with a good sense of direction and even if they have just visited a place once, they will be able to find it again years later.
I am one of those unfortunate people who have a very poor sense of direction and I may have visited a place time after time but I still manage to get lost on my way there.
When I was young I was so shy that I never dared ask complete strangers the way and so I used to wander round in circles and hoped that by some chance I would get to the spot I was heading for.
I am no longer too shy to ask people for directions, but I often receive replies that puzzle me. Often people do not like to admit that they do not know their hometown and will insist on telling you the way even if they do not know it; others, who are anxious to prove that they know their hometown very well, will give you a long list of directions which you cannot possibly hope to remember; and still others do not seem to be able to tell between their left and their right and you find in the end that you are going in the opposite direction to that in which you should be going.
If anyone ever asks me the way somewhere，I always tell him/her that I am a stranger to the town in order to avoid giving him/her wrong directions, but even this can have embarrassing results.
Once I was on my way to work when I was stopped by a man who asked me if I would direct him to the Sunlight Building. I gave my usual reply, but I had not walked on a few steps when I realized that he had asked for directions to my office building.
However, at this point, I decided it was too late to turn back and search him out of the crowd behind me, as I was going to meet with someone at the office and I did not want to keep him waiting.
Imagine my embarrassment when my secretary showed in the very man who had asked for directions to my office and his astonishment when he recognized me as the person he had asked.
1.The author seems to be very frustrated by the fact that ____.
A. he is poor at giving directions
B. he is too shy to ask for direction to improve his sense of it
C. he is jealous of those who have excellent sense of direction
D. he is not born with an adequate sense of direction
2.Poor in recognizing the way, the author managed to ___.
A. go without asking anyone the way in the street
B. lose himself even visiting a place repeatedly
C. show others the way when necessary
D. go to his office all by himself
3.The author prefers not to ask the way now because ___.
A. he knows many people are just like him
B. he has been used to getting lost
C. he finds it hard to trust strangers
D. few people can give effective instructions
4.An example is given to show the narrator’s ___.
A. embarrassing encounter
B. successful escape
C. poor sense of direction
D. stupid response
5.The tone of the story is ___.
A. helpless B. proud
C. anxious D. humorous
Bamboo is one of the nature’s most surprising plants. Many people call this plant a tree, but it is a kind of grass.
Like other kinds of grass, a bamboo plant may be cut very low to the ground, but it will grow back very quickly. A Japanese scientist recorded one bamboo plant that grew almost 1.5 meters in 24 hours! Bamboo grows almost everywhere in the world except Europe. There are more than 1,000 kinds of bamboo that grow around the world on both mountains and plains(平原).
Not all bamboo looks the same. Some bamboo plants are very thin. They may only grow to be a few centimeters wide while others may grow to more than 30 centimeters across. This plant also comes in different colors, from yellow to black to green.
Many Asian countries have been using bamboo for hundreds of years. They often use bamboo for building new buildings. As a matter of fact, the cables(绳索) that hold up the hanging bridge across the Min River in Sichuan are made of bamboo. The bridge has been in use for more than 1,000 years, and is still holding strong.
In Africa, engineers are teaching poor farmers how to find water using bamboo. These African countries need cheap ways to find water because they have no money, and their fields often die from no rain and no water. It seems that bamboo is one of the best things they can use. Bamboo pipes and drills(钻) can help to make the poor thirsty fields to be watered.
1.How is bamboo like grass?
A. It is thin and easy to cut.
B. It grows everywhere.
C. It grows quickly after its cut short.
D. It is short and green.
2.The sentence “while others may grow to more than 30 centimeters across.” means “Some other bamboo plants may grow to be very _______.”
A. short B. strong
C. thick D. tall
3.From the text we know ______.
A. most people call bamboo plant trees
B. a bamboo plant may grow 4.5 meters in three days
C. the bamboo plant changes its colors when it grows
D. a bridge held by bamboo cable was built thousands of years ago
4.Why did the engineers teach the poor farmers in Africa to make use of bamboo? A. Because it is cheap.
B. Because it is colorful.
C. Because it drills fast.
D. Because it is used by Asians.
5.Which of the following is NOT true?
A. There are many different kinds of bamboo with different colors.
B. Cables made of bamboo can last for over a thousand years.
C. Bamboo can be used for buildings, bridges and watering projects(工程).
D. Bamboo plants are able to grow well in any part of the world.
Johnny Smith was a good math student at a high school. He loved his computer. He came home early every day, then he worked with it till midnight. But Johnny was not a good English student, not good at all. He got an F in his English class. One day after school Johnny joined his computer to the computer in his high school office. The school office computer had the grades of all the students: the math grades, the science grades, the grades in arts and music, and the grades in English. He found his English grade. An F! Johnny changed his English grade from an F to A. Johnny' parents looked at his report card. They were very happy.
"An A in English!" said Johnny's Dad. "You're a very clever boy, Johnny."
Johnny is a hacker. Hackers know how to take information from other computers and put new information in. Using a modem, they join their computers to other computers secretly. School headmasters and teachers are worried about hackers. So are the police, for some people even take money from bank computer accounts and put it into their own ones. And they never have to leave home to do it! They are called hackers.
1.Johnny changed his English grade with the computer in _______.
A. the classroom B. the school office
C. a bank near his house D. his own house
2.When Johnny's parents saw the report, they were happy because _______.
A. Johnny was good at math
B. Johnny loved computers
C. Johnny could join one computer to another
D. they thought Johnny was not poor in English any longer
3.Who are worried about hackers in the story?
A. Johnny's parents.
B. School headmasters, teachers and the police.
C. The police.
D. School headmasters and teachers.
4.What should the hackers know well, do you think, after you read this story?
A. Information. B. Back computer accounts.
C. Computers. D. Grades.
5.The last paragraph is about _______.
A. Johnny B. computers
C. hackers D. modem
There are times when people are so tired that they fall asleep almost anywhere. We can see a lot of people sleeping on the bus or train on their way home __1.__ work in the evening. A man is reading the newspaper, and seconds later it appears as if he is trying to eat___2.__. Or he may fall asleep on the shoulder of the stranger _3.___ (sit) next to him. Another place where unplanned short sleep goes on is in the lecture hall __4.__ a student starts snoring so loudly that the professor has to ask_5. student to shake the sleeper awake. A more embarrassing situation occurs when a student starts falling into sleep and _6.__ weight of the head pushes the arm off the desk, and the movement carries the rest of the body along. The student wakes up on the floor with no memory of getting there. The __7._ (bad) time to fall asleep is when driving. Police reports are full of accidents that occur when people fall into sleep and go off the road. __8._ the drivers are lucky, they are not 9. (serious) hurt. One woman’s car, for example, went into the river. She woke up in four feet of water and thought that it _10.__ (rain). When people are really tired, nothing will stop them from falling asleep — no matter where they are
Mrs. Jones was very interested in singing. She had a good , except that some of her high notes tended to sound like a gate, which someone had forgotten to . Mrs. Jones was very aware of this , and took every she could find to practise these high . As she lived in a small house where she could not practise without the rest of the family, she usually went for long walks along the country roads whenever she had time, and practised her high notes there. Every time she heard a or a person coming along the , she stopped and until she could no longer be heard before she started practising again, because she was a person, and because she was sensitive about those high notes.
One afternoon, however, a fast, open car came up behind her so and so fast that she did not hear it until it was only a few yards from her. She was singing some of her highest and most notes at the time, and as the car passed her, she saw an anxious suddenly come over its driver’s face. He put his brakes on violently, and as soon as the car stopped, he jumped out and began to all his tires carefully.
Mrs. Jones did not dare to tell him what the noise he had heard had really been, so he got back into his car and drove off as as he had been when he stopped.
1.A. voice B. noise C. sound D. note
2.A. close B. open C. repair D. oil
3.A. strength B. sickness C. weakness D. advantage
4.A. time B. chance C. person D. place
5.A. notes B. songs C. signs D. sounds
6.A. preventing B. harming C. disturbing D. damaging
7.A. train B. car C. noise D. driver
8.A. path B. avenue C. street D. road
9.A. waited B. expected C. confused D. puzzled
10.A. brave B. shy C. ordinary D. unique
11.A. carefully B. gently C. quickly D. silently
12.A. beautiful B. tiring C. difficult D. energetic
13.A. expression B. conclusion C. impression D. action
14.A. wash B. observe C. repair D. examine
15.A. calm B. upset C. puzzled D. pleased
