Sam was a greedy and selfish man. He never hesitated to cheat others to earn money. The selfish man _____1._____(actual) wanted to own everything in the world. One day, he lost a small bag ___2.________(contain) 50 gold coins. He searched __3.______ the bag day and night. He also sent his workers in search but none could find it.
After a couple of days, ______4.______ ten year old girl told her father that she found a small bag with 50 gold coins. The family was rather poor but the honest man decided to give the bag to its owner. He gave it back to Sam and asked him to check ___5.________ the bag had 50 gold coins. Sam, who was only happy to get the coins, decided to play a trick. He shouted , 'There were 75 gold coins in this bag and you gave me only 50! Where are the other coins? You ___6._______(steal) them!' The poor man was __7._____(shock) to hear this and they finally took the issue to court to get the right judgment.
The judge heard both the sides. He examined the daughter and the poor man about the number of coins they had found in the bag and they assured __8._____ was only 50! He asked Sam, 'Are you sure you had 75 coins?' Sam nodded his head. Then the judge made his decision, 'Since Sam lost a bag of 75 gold coins, the bag found by the girl ____9._____ had only 50 coins doesn't belong to Sam. In addition, there were no claims against the 10.__(lose) of 50 coins and I order the girl and his father to take those 50 coins as appreciation for their honesty!'
A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching ______kids dashing out from between parked cars and______ when he thought he saw something.
As his car passed, one child appeared, and a brick____into the Jag's side door. He slammed on the brakes and spun the Jag back to the ____from where the brick had been thrown.
He jumped out of the car, grabbed some kid and pushed him up against a parked car, ____, "What was that all about and who are you? What are you doing?" Building up a head of steam, he went on "That's a new car and that brick you threw is gonna ____a lot of money. Why did you do it?"
"Please, Mister, please, I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do!" pleaded the youngster.
"It's my brother," he said. "He rolled____the curb (路边) and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't____him up.
____, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too ____ for me."
____beyond words, the driver tried to ____the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and____the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be okay.
"Thank you, sir. And God bless you," the ____child said to him. The man then watched the little boy push his brother to the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to his Jaguar... a long, slow walk. He never did ____ the side door. He kept the dent(凹痕) to ____him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your ____.
Life whispers in your ___and speaks to your heart. Sometimes, when you don't have the time to____... Life throws a brick at your head.
It's your choice: Listen to the whispers of your soul or wait for the ____!
1.A. in B. for C. up D. of
2.A. speed up B. moved off C. slowed down D. drew off
3.A. smashed B. threw C. rushed D. attacked
4.A. street B. house C. car D. spot
5.A. speaking B. shouting C. talking D. saying
6.A. cost B. take C. spend D. pay
7.A. off B. about C. on D. into
8.A. rise B. lift C. put D. drag
9.A. calling B. yelling C. sobbing D. shouting
10.A. heavy B. tall C. weak D. difficult
11.A. moved B. surprised C. annoyed D. persuaded
12.A. spit B. swallow C. vomit D. digest
13.A. scratched B. applied C. wiped D. drafted
14.A. grateful B. sorrowful C. naughty D. lovely
15.A. decorate B. repair C. crash D. remove
16.A. remind B. warn C. sense D. detect
17.A. understanding B. approval C. sympathy D. attention
18.A. spirit B. soul C .ghost D. memory
19.A. think B. feel C. look D. listen
20.A. moment B. idea C. brick D. chance
It’s 9 a. m. , the morning rush hour in Toronto. A man has fallen down on a downtown street suddenly. Several passers-by stop to help the man. One woman reaches into her purse for her cellphone and hits 911, the emergency number. __1.___Within ten minutes, the stricken man is in the back of an ambulance and is sent to the hospital for life-saving treatment.
This scene is fairly common in Toronto and other major cities. Over the years, cities have developed systems to respond quickly to emergencies. ____2.____But none of this would be possible without the cooperation of car drivers who yield(让路)to emergency vehicles on busy downtown streets. In fact, it’s against the law for drivers not to yield.
To yield means to give away or, more specifically, to get out of the way. ___3.____. As yet, China doesn’t have any specific laws that require drivers to yield, whether it is for slower cars to move over to the inside lane of a highway or for all cars to give way to emergency vehicles. ____4._ Drivers did not yield when they heard the ambulance’s siren.
In Canada, failing to yield to an ambulance vehicle can result in a fine of $400～$2, 000 and reduction of three points off your license. That’s for a first offense. __5._This punishment is severe because lives are in danger.
A. It has resulted in many lives being saved.
B. A second offense results in a bigger fine, the loss of your driver’s license for two years and a possible jail sentence.
C. It saves lives and, who knows, someday it may save your own.
D. Three minutes later, sirens(警报)are heard in the distance as a police car, an ambulance and a fire truck race to the area.
E. It means pulling to the side of the road to let others pass.
F. Recently, an injured Beijing cyclist died on the way to hospital because the ambulance carrying him got stuck in city traffic.
G. Safe driving depends on driver’s being aware of the traffic around them and yielding when necessary.
People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed. It’s not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive.
Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of question. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The argument is often conveniently referred to as nature vs. nurture.
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is predetermined(注定)to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts(本能).
Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. Behaviorists see humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. Their view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli (something that helps sb./ sth. to develop better and more quickly)as the basis of their behavior.
The social and political connections of these two theories are significant. In the United States, for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligent test. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically worse than whites. Behaviorists, in contrast, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often robbed of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result ,they do not develop the same responses that whites do.
Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes. That the argument will continue for a long time is certain.
1.The author is mainly concerned about solving the problem .
A. why our personalities and behaviors differ
B. what makes different stages of intelligence
C. how social scientists form different theories
D. what causes the “nature/ nurture” argument
2.The underlined word “proponents” can best be replaced by .
A. approaches B. advocates
C. principles D. characters
3.Which of the following statements may be supported by the “nature” school?
A. We are born with certain personalities and behaviors.
B. Environment has nothing to do with our personalities.
C. Abilities and characteristics are showed by behaviors.
D. Only extreme behaviors are determined by instincts.
4. What can we learn about the behaviorists?
A. They believe human beings are mechanical.
B. They compare our behaviors to the machines.
C. They suggest that we react to the environment as the machines do.
D. They agree that the mechanistic theory can be applied on us as well.
People in several American states may be surprised to see cars on city streets without a driver. Experimental driverless vehicles now are legal in Florida, Nevada and California. They are pointing the way to a future that is not far down the road. The high-tech company Google has a number of self-driving cars, which had covered 480,000 kilometers by August. Volvo is among the companies doing road tests and says it plans to sell driverless cars by 2020.
In September, California Governor Jerry Brown signed an act to allow autonomous vehicles on the roads of his state. “Today we’re looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow's reality-the driverless car. ” The technology for these cars includes cameras, radar and motion sensors. The systems have been improved through competitions sponsored by the U. S. government agency DARPA. Engineer Richard Mason of the Rand Corporation helped design driverless vehicles for DARPA challenge races.
Cars have become much more fuel-efficient, and new electronic features are' making Hondas safer, said Angie Nucci of Honda America. “A camera on the passenger-side mirror actually engaged on your guiding screen so you can safely change lanes. ” Other safety features include warning systems on the front and the sides of the cars. These systems help drivers , but don’t replace them. Curator Leslie Kendall of the Petersen Automotive Museum said autonomous cars will make the high ways safer．
“By taking out drivers, you also remove most risks of an accident, ”Kendall said. He said , “Consumers, however, may be unwilling to lose control. It may take them time to come to realize that the technology is indeed reliable, but it will have to prove itself first. ”
Mason said the technology already works and the biggest challenge now is getting down the cost for driverless vehicles from hundreds of thousands of dollars to something more affordable. He said this will happen as the technology is improved.
1.According to the passage, California Governor Jerry Brown ______________.
A. is for the idea of having driverless cars
B. sponsored the DARPA competition to improve the driverless system
C. has already bought a new autonomous car
D. thinks that driving safety is the most important issue in his state
2. What is the role of the systems mentioned in Paragraph 3?
A. They can help cars run much faster.
B. They can take the place of drivers now.
C. They can make cars run without fuel.
D. They can help people drive more safely.
3.In Kendall’s opinion, who probably don’t rely on the driverless cars at first?
A. managers in the high-tech company Google
B. officers from the U. S. government agency DARPA
C. car consumers
D. vehicle designers
4.According to Richard Mason, what is the biggest challenge for driverless cars?
A. They need to have more comfortable seats .
B. They are now too expensive for consumers.
C. They are travelling at a low speed.
D. They are not favored by car racers
A planned visit to Trinidad and Tobago sometime ago by a former American president, suddenly took an amazing turn form the initial plan. The presidential aircraft could not land in Trinidad and Tobago. It was reported that the runway of the airport was too short. Therefore, the aircraft had to land in a nearby country and they came into the country by road.
Everyone has a runway by which events enter into his life. The events here could be favors, miracle, connections, job opportunities, etc. The size of your runway determines the level of results that will be attracted into your life.
I have a story of two good friends. They finished high school together. One wanted to further his studies while the other decided to look for a job. As time went on, the one that wanted to work was always there to support the other one especially in the area of fees in school for a long time. As destiny would have it, they both lost contact and after a very long time, they met again but on a very different level. The one that added values to himself by going back to school had stepped up greatly to become the general manager of a big company and the other was just a little lifted. So, it was time to pay back. The one of general manager could only support him financially and make him the chief driving officer in the company. Even though he would have loved to give him a higher post he was not qualified especially in terms of skills, orientation , experience and so on. In other words, his runway was too short for such an opportunity.
Everyone must increase in knowledge and training . You must step up in your education level, human, business and communication skills. Your relationship with people must improve by being a good person. Your runway is enlarged anytime you add values to your life.
There are some jobs, opportunities, favor that cannot protect base in your life. They will have to be coming from other people into your life because you have failed to work on your own runway by improving on your abilities. It is not too late or too early to start in life because every stage in life is a good place to begin.
1. In the first paragraph, the president had to change his plan because _________________.
A. the weather condition was bad for their journey
B. they couldn’t go into that country by their plane
C. they wanted to visit the neighboring country temporarily
D. the president had to deal with something back in his country
2. The two friends had different final results because __________________________
A. they had different life goals
B. one always wanted to beat the other
C. they had different education levels
D.they wanted to show their different success
3.What is stressed in the last paragraph?
A. The key to success.
B. The need of others’ help
C. The trouble from failure
D. The real meaning of life
4.What would be the best title for this text?
A. Kindness Makes a Big Different
B. Depend on Youself
C. Competition Exists Everywhere
D. Always Improve on Yourself
