Weekends are normally a time for shopping and last Saturday was no exception. My son Henry and I were shopping in a neighborhood market. Henry was busy weighing each new bag of vegetables I selected. I gave him a bag of potatoes and he walked over to the scale and waited in line. Suddenly, a man rushed over from behind, and stepped before him, hitting him out of the way. Henry looked shocked and scared. Seeing this I left my shopping cart and walked over to Henry, saying loudly, “Are you OK, honey? I saw what that man did to you. That was very, very wrong.”
When the man finished weighing his bag, his sudden turning around made all his onions fall to the ground. The three of us stood there, frozen for a moment. And then I bent down on my hands and knees and started collecting onions. After I handed the onions to the man, he accepted them and put them into his bag. After Henry and I picked up all the onions, the man walked away without saying anything. We didn’t discuss the event until we got back in the car.
On the way back home, Henry said through tears, “Mommy, I’ve a frustrating day. That man cut right in front of me. And we had to help him pick up his onions! Why did we do that? That didn’t make any sense!”
I took a deep breath and said, “Henry, that man seemed to have a very bad mood today. We should forgive him. I was also angry with the man for treating you rudely. I really wanted to kick him. But doing that doesn’t make any sense. If we hadn’t helped him, we might have felt good for a moment, but then I bet we would have felt really sorry for a long time. You and I have a lot of love to share. Maybe that man doesn’t have much. People who behave badly still need love.”
A cheerful smile appeared on Henry’s face. It was a smile of promise kept. It was the best smile I had ever seen. It was a good moment. It may have been my best mommy moment ever.
1.What did the man do?
A. He cut in the line.
B. He hit Henry on the head.
C. He hurried away without paying.
D. He ran into Henry suddenly.
2. What can we infer from the passage?
A. The author was not angry at all with what the man had done.
B. The man was very sorry for what he had done to Henry.
C. At last, Henry learned a very valuable life lesson from the event.
D. Henry didn’t help the author pick up the onions for the man.
3. Which of the following word can best describe the author?
A. Narrow-minded. B. Broad-minded.
C. Strong-willed. D. Bad-tempered.
书面表达
阅读下面短文，然后按要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。
Let’s face it. You are constantly exposed to common viruses. There is nothing you can do about them. However, you can greatly influence the effect of those viruses on your health. Don’t accept that the flu or common cold is something you have to suffer from time to time. Cast off this thought and keep yourself and your entire family healthy regardless of the weather or season. These 4 easy tips will help you to reduce the number of times you are down with the flu or common cold:
1.Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables daily. They will provide you with important nutrients, mainly vitamins, which are needed to increase your ability to win the fight against common viruses.
2.Drink plenty of water. The water runs through your body, removing everything your body wants to get rid of.
3.Sleep 8 hours per night. If you often fail to have enough sleep, not only will you feel tired, but also your immune system will work less efficiently. You will be more easily affected by viruses.
【写作内容】
请你用英语以“健康的生活习惯让我们远离病毒”为题写一篇短文，主要内容包括：
1 以约30个词概括以上短文的主要内容。
2 然后以约120个词谈谈你对养成健康生活习惯的看法，内容包括：
(1) 病毒的危害及形成健康生活习惯的必要性；
(2) 要保持健康，还有哪些可行措施；
(3) 倡导大家培养良好生活习惯，健康生活。
【写作要求】
1 作文中可使用亲身经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子；
2 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
任务型阅读,请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。
注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题纸上相应题号的横线上。
The Internet has become a way of life for many people around the world. So what would happen if one fine morning, you woke up to find the Internet has no existence? How would your life be changed? Well, your lifestyle might be impacted. If you were an Internet addict, you would find that your life has come to an end. With no online facilities, a considerable part of your time would be spent waiting in long lines at banks, post offices or government offices. You would be waiting for days or even weeks for your mail to arrive from another corner of the world. Suddenly, you would realize that your fast-paced life is running at a snail’s pace.
Without the Internet, your socializing would also be impacted. If you’d gotten very used to socializing online, you would now be clueless as to how you could share the pictures of your recent trip you went for with your friends across the globe. It would be difficult to interact with people living outside your locality. You might have to become a member of a club or a community in your neighborhood to make new friends. With no online social media, you would find yourself saying this very often: Let’s go and talk to them!
With no way to use emails, instant messaging, chat or social media, we would have to take advantage of the option of a telephone conversation, or sending snail mail. Communication via the internet is free, whereas the options available otherwise would cost you extra money and time. Your would have to write letters and buy stamps, as we used to do before the Internet became popular.
The Internet has become a huge sea of information and resources. No Internet would mean no instant and easy access to information at the click of a button. Your would have to walk down to your local library and actually search the whole place to get the information you’re looking for, with little chances that you’ll find what you seek instantly. The students who were accustomed to using the Internet for completing their assignments would have a tough time. There would be no way to get an education without actually going to a school or a college physically.
Without the Internet, things at your workplace would be turned upside down. If your work was largely Internet-based, your company might have to shut down. If your work involved only minor use of the Internet, for example, using online system to acquire statistics from the Internet, this simple task would now be a complicated and time-consuming process. Your desk would be full of documents and files, and you would have a nightmare searching or sorting them out by hand. In any case, life without the Internet would seem like nightmare! So enjoy living in the paradise we call the Internet and make wise use of it!
Can you imagine the world without the Internet | |
Paragraph outline | Supporting details |
Lifestyle | ·It would take you much longer time to get some public 1._______ ·The pace of your life would 2._______ down |
Socializing | ·You would not know how to share your things with your faraway friends ·You would have difficulty interacting with people living outside your locality ·You would need to join a club or a community to3._____ new people ·You would always be obliged to make face-to-face4._______ with others |
Communication | ·Without emails, instant messaging or social media, you would have to use old communicating ways like telephone conversation ·Communicating in old ways would be5. _______ and time-consuming |
Information | ·Large amounts of information and resources online would no longer be easily 6. _______ ·The students who were in the7._______ of using the Internet would have trouble completing their assignments ·It would be impossible for students to be8._______ via the Internet |
Workplace | ·Those companies that were heavily 9.______ on the Internet would close down ·It would be complicated and time-consuming to acquire some statistics ·Your desk would be in a10. _______ and it would be hard for you to search or sort something out |
The word tolerance is widely used in liberal democracies. It indicates a positive meaning. Politicians urge us to be tolerant towards minorities. Educators teach us to be tolerant towards the other. The press is full of references to the need to display tolerance when faced with individuals or groups espousing a different view or holding a different religious belief. A tolerant society is an objective sought after by anyone who believes in the values of democracy. A tolerant individual is attributed with virtuous qualities.
The question we must ask is whether we have been using the word tolerance fully aware of its meaning and whether we have applied it correctly to reflect what we really wish to convey?
The word tolerance means to bear, or to bear with. If I tolerate something or someone, I basically say that I am ready to bear it or him. I can tolerate a bad smell or a noisy neighbour. The act of toleration forces me to desist from conveying my objection to the existence of a phenomenon, which I find difficult to bear. A bad smell or a noisy neighbour is considered by me to be an objectionable phenomenon. By tolerating either of them, I am not transforming the bad smell or the noisy neighbour into positive phenomena. Let's be honest: I don't have a different taste when it comes to bad smells. I simply dislike it and wish that it disappears. I don't respect the noisy neighbour. I would rather have him stop at once the noise he is making so I can live in peace.
To try to remove the bad smell or take reasonable action in order for the noisy neighbour to stop bothering me would most probably not be considered an intolerant act by most people.
Now, let's try to apply the word tolerance in reference to a person who is law-abiding and holds a legally acceptable different view from my own. I may have a strong view, which is opposed to his. Quite frankly, I may decide to tolerate his view. By so doing, I would be attributing to it a negative characteristic. I would apply the same attitude to his view as to the bad smell or noisy neighbour. Thus, to try to take action in order to make his view disappear would be considered an intolerant act. To tolerate his view the way I would a bad smell or a noisy neighbour, could hardly be considered virtuous.
The subject tolerating is by nature not equal to the object being tolerated. If I tolerate you, I essentially say that I am above you and am prepared, although unwillingly, to bear with your presence or with your practices or opinions. That may be true in the case of an individual who is ready to tolerate the other. However, this attitude by such an individual, though empirically true, is hardly a virtue. Certainly, the fact that an individual, in reality, may merely tolerate the other or his opinion does not justify a government or any official authority promoting tolerance as a virtue. One cannot tolerate an equal being. True equality involves respect, not toleration. To respect the other as a distinctive person is hardly to tolerate him. This is the true meaning of equality: diversity existing in a mutually-respectful socio-legal setting.
The danger with tolerance is that it can lead to the acceptance of individuals or groups bent on destroying the foundations of democratic systems. We have seen such cases with regard to political parties or destructive religious groups that have been treated in a liberal manner under the guise of tolerance.
A tolerant attitude involves the grant of a favour, not a right. The question we should ask ourselves is whether we would ever wish a parliament to make laws according to us, as individuals and as part of a collective entity or a permission to pursue certain actions interpreted as a favour rather than a right? Indeed, would we ever wish anyone to listen to our views and accept us the way we are simply because he is kind enough to tolerate us?
1. The first two paragraphs are mainly intended to show that __________.
A. tolerance is a symbol of liberal democracies
B. democratic society always advocates tolerance
C. people’s understanding of tolerance is one-sided
D. tolerance can be applied to many situations
2. The example of a bad smell and a noisy neighbour is raised to indicate that _________.
A. the writer are fed up with them
B. most people find them hard to tolerate
C. the writer isn’t prejudiced against them
D. tolerating them isn’t a virtuous act
3.Which of the following will the writer probably agree with?
A. Too much tolerance will endanger the foundations of democratic systems.
B. By tolerating people can transform something negative into the opposite.
C. People tolerating others are likely to consider them as their equals.
D. Being tolerant should be regarded as a right instead of a favour
4.The best title for this passage should be “___________”.
A. Tolerance and respect B. What is to be tolerated?
C. Is Tolerance a Virtue? D. Should people be tolerant?
Analysis of the composition of quicksand shows that there are four key ingredients—sand, obviously water, clay and salt. Together these materials form a structure resembling a house of cards, with large water-filled gaps between the sand particles, which are loosely glued in place by the clay. As long as it’s left alone, the structure remains stable. But as soon as it’s disturbed, by stepping on it, the clay changes from a jelly-like consistency to a runny liquid. The effect is the same as stirring a pot of yoghurt. Liquefying(溶解)the clay makes the quicksand about one million times runnier, and the whole house of cards comes tumbling down, with you inside it.
Very quickly, the sand sinks to the bottom and the water floats to the top. This is where the salt comes in. When there’s enough salt present, as soon as the clay particles liquefy, electrical charges make them begin to stick together to form bigger particles and these also settle with the sand. Quicksand is a mixture which looks like solid, but behaves more like a liquid.
Despite its murderous reputation, quicksand does not such people under and swallow them, although it can hold a person in firm grip. The human body is more buoyant(有浮力) in quicksand than in water, and sooner or later anyone trapped in it will float.
Unlike most liquids, quicksand’s viscosity, or “runniness” can suddenly change if it comes under pressure, for example under a human foot. The surface gives way and the victim quickly sinks in up to the knees, surrounded by an area of dirty things that turns semi-solid around its victim. Escaping from the quicksand’s grip(紧握) requires a large amount of force. Without something solid to pull at, people often find they are stuck fast. Pulling at one leg simply makes the other one sink further.
So how do you escape from quicksand’s control? Stay still and call for help. Staying still stops you sinking any further, until--with luck--help arrives on the scene. If no one appears and you need to draw yourself out, gently lie down on your back until your body is floating on the sand. Next, roll over onto your stomach and pull yourself forwards with your hands, so that you gradually “swim” towards firmer ground. It is a slow and dirty business, but it works.
This technique has one barrier: it goes against a very powerful human nature. Faced with danger in the open, nine out of ten stay on their feet so that they can run away, in which case it can worsen the situation.
1.Which ingredient of the quicksand make someone trapped in it stuck and stuck fast?
A. Sand B. Clay C. Water D. Salt
2.From the passage we can learn that ________
A. as long as you are strong enough, you can pull yourself up from quicksand on your own
B. clay glues sand particles loosely, which makes quicksand stable, unless it is disturbed
C. because anyone trapped in quicksand will float, there is little possibility of him dying
D. looking like solid ground, quicksand is actually liquid
3.If someone is trapped in quicksand, what should he do?
A. Remain calm and wave for help
B. Stand in quicksand and get ready to run away as quickly as possible
C. “Swimming” is one of the best choices he can use to escape
D. Once in quicksand, lie down on his stomach immediately and swim slowly to safety
4. What might be the best title of the passage?
A. A human killer--quicksand
B. How to escape from danger
C. An awful experience in quicksand
D. What to do if trapped in quicksand
What does the future hold for the problem of housing? A good deal depends, of course, on the meaning of “future”. If one is thinking in terms of science fiction and the space age, it is at least possible to assume that man will have solved such trivial and earthly problems as housing. Writers of science fiction, from H.G. Wells onwards, have had little to say on the subject. They have conveyed the suggestion that men will live in great comfort, with every imaginable apparatus(设备) to make life smooth, healthy and easy, if not happy. But they have not said what his house will be made of. Perhaps some new building material, as yet unimagined, will have been discovered or invented at least. One may be certain that bricks and mortar(泥灰，灰浆) will long have gone out of fashion.
But the problems of the next generation or two can more readily be imagined. Scientists have already pointed out that unless something is done either to restrict the world’s rapid growth in population or to discover and develop new sources of food (or both), millions of people will be dying of starvation or at the best suffering from underfeeding before this century is out. But nobody has yet worked out any plan for housing these growing populations. Admittedly the worst situations will occur in the hottest parts of the world, where housing can be light structure or in backward areas where standards are traditionally low. But even the minimum shelter requires materials of some kind and in the teeming, bulging towns the low-standard “housing” of flattened petrol cans and dirty canvas is far more wasteful of ground space than can be tolerated.
Since the war, Hong Kong has suffered the kind of crisis which is likely to arise in many other places during the next generation. Literally millions of refugees arrived to swell the already growing population and emergency steps had to be taken rapidly to prevent squalor(肮脏)and disease and the spread crime. The city is tackling the situation energetically and enormous blocks of tenements(贫民住宅)are rising at an astonishing aped. But Hong Kong is only one small part of what will certainly become a vast problem and not merely a housing problem, because when population grows at this rate there are accompanying problems of education, transport, hospital services, drainage, water supply and so on. Not every area may give the same resources as Hong Kong to draw upon and the search for quicker and cheaper methods of construction must never stop.
1.The writer is sure that in the distant future ___.
A.bricks and mortar will be replaced by some other building material.
B.a new building material will have been invented.
C.bricks and mortar will not be used by people who want their house to be fashionable.
D.a new way of using bricks and mortar will have been discovered.
2.The writer believes that the biggest problem likely to confront the world before the end of the century ___.
A.is difficult to foresee.
B. will be how to provide enough houses in the hottest parts of the world.
C. will be how to feed the ever growing population.
D.is the question of finding enough ground space.
3.When the writer says that the worst situations will occur in the hottest parts of the world or in backward areas, he is referring to the fact that in these parts ___.
A. the population growth will be the greatest.
B. standards of building are low.
C. only minimum shelter will be possible.
D. there is not enough ground space.
4.Which of the following sentences best summarizes Paragraph 3?
A.Hong Kong has faced a serious crisis caused by millions of refugees.
B.Hong Kong has successfully dealt with the emergency caused by millions of refugees.
C. Many parts of the world may have to face the kind of problems encountered by Hong Kong and may find it much harder to deal with them.
D. Hong Kong’s crisis was not only a matter of housing but included a number of other problems of population growth.
