The school was across the street from our home and I would often watch the kids as they played during the break. She seemed so small as she pushed her way the crowd of boys on the playground. She from them all.
I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing . She would practice dribbling (运球) and shooting over and over again, sometimes until . One day I asked her she practiced so much. She looked in my eyes and without a moment of hesitation she said, “I want to go to college. The only way I can is if I get a scholarship, I am going to play college basketball. I want to be . My Daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.”
Well, I had to give it in to her—she was . One day, I saw her sitting in the grass, head in her arms. I walked toward her and quietly asked what was “Oh, nothing,” came a soft reply. “I am just too short.” The coach told her that at her height she would probably get to play for a top ranked team, offered a scholarship. So she stop dreaming about college.
She was and I sensed her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They just did not the power of a dream. He told her she really wanted to play for a good college, if she truly wanted a scholarship, could stop her except one thing — her own attitude. He told her again, “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.”
The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was seen by a college recruiter (招聘人员). She was indeed offered a . She was going to get the college education that she had and worked toward it for all those years.
1.A. through B. across C. over D. into
2.A. brought out B. showed out C. stood out D. worked out
3.A. only B. lonely C. simply D. alone
4.A. dark B. dawn C. midnight D. daybreak
5.A. how B. when C. why D. what
6.A. worriedly B. shyly C. quietly D. directly
7.A. go B. meet C. enter D. attend
8.A. worse B. better C. the best D. the worst
9.A. determined B. encouraged C. fixed D. fascinated
10.A. covered B. enclosed C. dropped D. buried
11.A. the affair B. wrong with C. the thing D. the matter
12.A. ever B. even C. once D. never
13.A. far more B. much less C. more less D. many more
14.A. should B. must C. can D. may
15.A. overjoyed B. moved C. embarrassed D. heartbroken
16.A. understand B. experience C. learn D. believe
17.A. even if B. as if C. that if D. only if
18.A. anything B. nothing C. something D. everything
19.A. prize B. medal C. scholarship D. position
20.A. dreamed of B. relied on C. thought of D. looked forward
Choosing a Career After High School
1. Start thinking early about what kind of work you may want to explore after high school, remembering that you can change careers several times throughout your work life. Your exact choice should take into consideration your interests, personality and personal goals. Read on for some general options to think about when you are choosing a career after high school.
1. Take a personality and interest test. 2. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter assumes that you have your own patterns of attitude and actions that are as unique to you as the build of your body. The Keirsey test gives you 71 multiple-choice questions to determine exactly how you interact with the world.
2. 3. Careers in the professions and most government work require a college education, with a minimum of a bachelor's degree. Other careers do not require a college education, but rather offer on-the-job training and start you out in an entry-level position from which you can grow.
3. Take vocational training courses. Vocational training prepares you for a specific job and can usually be completed in six months to one year. This may not be a very good option if you struggled with your grades in high school. Vocational training programs are usually modeled after academic training, but are much more hands-on as they allow you to actually do the work while you learn.
4. Join the military. 4. The military pays for your future university education and offers you an attractive enlistment(应征入伍) bonus. You will be trained to learn a variety of skills, so be prepared for a highly structured environment that demands self-discipline and hard work.
5. Start a business. It is important that you enter a career that makes you want to devote yourself wholly to. 5. This option takes serious discipline and focus, and it requires you to learn basic business skills in addition to the skills of your particular kind of work.
A. Personality varies from person to person.
B. You become qualified to join at the age of 18.
C. Find out the educational requirements for your career choices.
D. Starting a business can be a great challenge for them.
E. There are many good online tests that will help you discover what kind of career suits your personality.
F. If you cannot find the right fit in an existing job, then you may be able to create your job through self-employment.
G. When you graduate from high school, you can either choose to continue your schooling or pursue a career, with all its seemingly endless choices.
My friend had mentioned the other day that her father had a lot of children's toys he was looking to give away. She knew I have a three-year-old daughter so she thought of me first. I told her I would love it if I could get some nice things for my daughter, which I wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford.
When I met her father, he began to explain he was too poor once and that he would hate to throw away things that can be very useful.
Before he showed me what he was giving away, I thought the toys would be mostly lego's(乐高积木) or things like that. When he was showing me around I saw a bed, a slide, a kitchen set and many other things that just blew my mind. He told me to write a list of everything my daughter could use and as my eyes were wide, he told me not to feel guilty. He said I was helping him by getting rid of the stuff.
As I was looking around I did feel guilty, but I tried to remain more grateful than guilty. Every time I tried to thank him for giving me and my daughter all this wonderful stuff he would thank me right back. I wanted to believe that he was just thanking me so that I wouldn't feel so guilty but in reality I believe that he was as grateful as I was that these toys would be put to good use.
In the eyes of charity, it makes sense to feel grateful, but guilt is just as normal. I know that we could have lived without a slide, which is why I do feel guilty, but I am grateful all the same because my daughter really does enjoy all these nice things!
1.Why did the old man want to give away his toys?
A. He wanted to help those poor children.
B. He was wealthy enough to buy new toys.
C. He wanted to make full use of those toys.
D. He needed some space for more useful things.
2.In the writer's opinion, the old man felt grateful because
A. he wanted to make her more guilty
B. he wanted her to take the toys quickly
C. the toys would be put to good use
D. he finally got rid of the stuff
3.What can we know from the passage?
A. The writer took all the toys home.
B. The old man was a kind and thoughtful person
C. The writer wanted to refuse the stuff when she first saw them.
D. The writer's daughter enjoyed the slide most among all the stuff.
4.How did the writer feel when given the stuff?
A. Guilty and honored. B. Grateful and respected.
C. Honored and respected. D. Guilty and grateful.
Tiny transmitters(发射机) fixed on the backs of the blue-green bees have allowed scientists to follow the insects as they fly for miles in search of rare flowers.
Working in Panama, scientists caught 17 bees of the common species and fixed a 300 milligram radio light onto the back of each. The signals they sent out were used to follow their movements in and around the forest where they lived.
Professor Martin, from Princeton University, US, and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany, said, “By following the radio signals, we discovered that male bees spent most of their time in small centre areas, but could take off and visit areas farther away. One male even crossed over the shipping lanes in the Panama Canal, flying at least 5km, and returned a few days later.”
Researchers have struggled to follow the movements of bees before, following bees marked with paint or using radar which doesn’t work well in forests.
“Carrying the transmitter could reduce the distance that the bees travel, but even if the flight distances we record are the shortest distances that these bees can fly, they are impressive, long-distance movements,” said Dr. Roland Kays, from New York State Museum, a co-author of the research published today in the on-line journal. “This result helps to explain how these bees’ pollination(授粉) can be so rare.” Pollination by bees and other insects is the key to the diversity and continued growth of flowers and trees in some forests.
The new study is the first to use radio transmitters to follow bees in a forest. Similar research may now be carried in temperate forests, where bees also play a vital role.
1.The main purpose of the passage is to___
A.call on people to protect the bees for the environment
B.explain why the bees fly far away in search of flowers
C.introduce a modern way to follow the bees to readers
D.encourage the public to support the scientists’ research
2.What was the problem when researchers tried to follow the bees in the past?
A. It was quite difficult to mark the bees
B. The radar itself didn’t work very well
C. The bees weren’t easy to be recognized
D. Environmental limits were hard to solve
3.What Dr. Roland Kays said implied that____
A.he didn’t expect bees could fly so long a distance
B.The transmitter didn’t have any effects on bees at all
C.He wanted to know how far bees could travel badly
D.The record was in fact as exact as he had thought
4.Researchers follow the movements of bees mainly to___
A.learn how far they can fly at most
B.discover how they affect the plants
C.correct some wrong ideas about bees
D.get to know where they enjoy living
If you’re tired of the Mediterranean and don’t want to head to Disney again, perhaps it’s time for a summer holiday in space. Russia has declared plans for its first floating hotel, 217 miles above earth, and it is something of an offering with good service.
Hosting just seven guests in a four cabins, the accommodation will boast huge windows with views back to earth and tasty microwave meals will be served instead of the ones often used by astronauts.
Just getting there will be an adventure in itself—it will take two days aboard a Soyuz rocket—and it won’t exactly be a budget holiday: A five-day stay will cost you￡100, 000 to￡500, 000 for your journey. The hotel is due to open by 2016 and, according to those behind it, will be far more comfortable than the International Space Station (ISS) used by astronauts and cosmonauts.
In the weightlessness of space, visitors can choose to have beds that are either vertical or horizontal. Tourists, who will be accompanied by experienced crew, will dine on food prepared on Earth and sent up on the rocket, to be reheated in microwave ovens. Many kinds of delicacies will be available.
Iced tea, mineral water and fruit juices will be available, but alcohol will be strictly prohibited. Toilets will use flowing air instead of water to move waste through the system. Waste water will be recycled.
Sergei Kostenko, chief executive of Orbital Technologies which will construct the hotel, said: “Our planned module inside will not remind you of the International Space Station. A hotel should be comfortable inside, and it will be possible to look at the Earth. The hotel will be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space.” The hotel can also be used as an emergency bolthole (避难处) for astronauts aboard the International Space Station if there is a crisis.
1.Which can be the best title of the passage?
A. Russia declares the design for its first space hotel
B. The first space hotel is under construction now
C. The astronauts will have a second home in space
D. Russia has the advanced technology in exploring space
2.What does the underlined word “budget” in the 3rd paragraph mean?
A. expensive B. worthwhile
C. economic D. uncomfortable
3.What kind of accommodation will the guests have in the space hotel?
A. They will have the same food as the astronauts have.
B. Many kinds of drinks are available including alcohol.
C. Guests can have beds that are either vertical or horizontal.
D. Tourists are accompanied by the astronauts from the ISS.
4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The space hotel is built to remind you of the International Space Station.
B. The hotel is constructed with big windows so that tourists can see the earth.
C. The company, Orbital Technologies, has already begun to build the space hotel.
D. In the near future, a space trip for most of the people can be realized.
Shopping for clothes is not the same experience for a man as it is for a woman. A man goes shopping because he needs something. All men simply walk into a shop and ask the assistant for what they want. If the shop has it in stock, the salesman immediately finds it, and the business of trying it on follows at once. All being well, the deal can be and often is completed in less than five minutes.
For a man, small problems may begin when the shop doesn't have what he wants. In that case, the salesman, tries to sell the customer something else. "I know this jacket is not the style you want, sir, but would you like to try it for size? It happens to be the colour you mentioned. "Few men have patience with this treatment, and the usual response is: "This is the right colour and may be the right size, but I should be wasting my time and yours by trying it on."
However, a woman in almost every respect she does so in the opposite way. Her shopping is not often based on need and she is only "having a look around". She is always open to persuasion; indeed she sets great store by what the saleswoman tells her. She will try on any number of things. Most women have an excellent sense of value when they buy clothes. They are always on the lookout for the unexpected bargain. Faced with a roomful of dresses, a woman may easily spend an hour going from one room to another, often retracing her steps, before selecting the dresses she wants to try on. It is a laborious process, but apparently an enjoyable one. Most dress shops provide chairs for the waiting husbands.
1.The underlined part “sets great store by ” in paragraph 3 means___
A. has much information about B. knows nothing bout
C. believes in D. has her doubts about
2.What does the passage tell us about women shoppers for clothes?
A. They welcome suggestions from others.
B. They rarely consider buying cheap clothes.
C. They predict what they want to buy.
D. They listen to advice but never take it.
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A. Men never buy what they don’t need
B. A man’s shopping is often based on need
C. A woman goes shopping in order to look for cheap things
D. A woman’s shopping is never based on need.
