To Whom It May Concern:
Your address was forwarded to us by How to Magazine. All of us here think The International Institute of Not Doing Much is the best organization in the world. You know how to avoid unnecessary activities!
As a matter of fact, we closely followed the advice in your article. First, we replaced all our telephones with carrier pigeons. Simply removing the jingle of telephones and replacing them with the pleasant sounds of birds has had a remarkable effect on everyone. Besides, birds are cheaper than telephone service. After all, we are a business. We have to think of the bottom line. As a side benefit, the birds also add the nutrients to the grass outside the new employees’ sauna(桑拿房).
Next, we sold the computers off to Stab, Grab, Grit, and Nasty, a firm of lawyers nearby. Our electricity bill went way down. Big savings! The boss is impressed. We have completely hugged paper technology. Now that we all use pencils, doodling (涂鸦) is on the increase, and the quality of pencil Woman Ship is impressive, as you can tell from my handwriting in this letter. By the way, if you can, please send this letter back to us. We can erase and reuse it. Just tie it to Maggie’s leg and she’ll know where to take it.
Now it’s very calm and quiet here. You can notice the difference. No more loud chatter on the telephones! All we hear is the scratching of pencil on paper, the sound of pigeons, and the delivery of inter-office letters by paper airplane.
Wonderful! I’ve always wanted to work for an insurance company ever since I was a little girl. Now it’s perfect.
Sincerely yours,
Eleanor Lightly
Spokeswoman and Company Hair Stylist
ABC Activity Insurance: insure against overdoing it
1.Where is Eleanor’s letter sent to?
A. How To Magazine.
B. ABC Activity Insurance Company.
C. Stab, Grab, Grit, and Nasty Law Firm.
D. The International Institute of Not Doing Much.
2.Which of the following best describes the life the author is leading?
A. A religious, peasant-like life.
B. A simple, slow-paced life.
C. A life away from paper and pencils.
D. A life of hard work and security.
3.Which of the following is practiced in the author’s company?
A. Replacing the hand work system with modern technology.
B. Turning off lights in the daytime to save electricity.
C. Buying birds and pets as company for the staff.
D. Recycling paper resources whenever possible.
4.What is the purpose of writing this letter?
A. to show his dissatisfaction with the new environment.
B. to complain about the bad working condition.
C. to persuade people to live a simple life.
D. to express his thanks for the good advice.
Recently, scientists are reported to have grown a living human “brain”. The team at Aston University in UK created tiny bunch of cells which act like a mini nervous system.
They believe it could help find a cure for worse mental conditions like Parkinson’s disease. Professor Michael Coleman is leading the research program. He explained, “We are aiming to be able to study the human brain at the most basic level, using an actual living human cell system. Cells have to be alive and operating efficiently to enable us to really understand how the brain works.” The experiment involves changing cells from a cancer tumor (肿瘤）and making them behave like brain cells.
Although far from finished, researchers hope the false brain cells will give them a greater understanding of how real brains work. This, in turn, could significantly further research into conditions which affect the brain. Neil Hunt, chief leader of the research group, said, “It is still very early days, but in the future the research could lead to a useful tool for looking into dementia (痴呆).”
The technique could also provide a way to carry on animal test and is being supported by the Humane Research Trust (HRT). The scientists predict that over the next ten years a million people will develop dementia. Professor Coleman believes their findings could change this. He said, “We hope our research will provide scientists with a new and highly relational human experimental model to help them understand the brain better and develop new drugs to control the related disease. However, the biggest challenge at present is that we are greatly short of fund, which will slow our research.”
1.UK scientists grow a living human “brain” in order to ______.
A. separate cells from a cancer tumor
B. discover how human brain really works
C. make use of living human cell system
D. study the structure of human brain
2.According to Neil Hunt, research into brain cells ______.
A. will help treat some diseases in nerve system
B. will influence the brain growth in many ways
C. will get finished as early as possible
D. will make people discover dementia
3.From the last paragraph, we can know that ______
A. the technique provided by HRT is not fully developed
B. the research program lacks financial support
C. animal tests are no longer allowed by law
D. a million people suffer from brain diseases
4.The text is meant to ______.
A. tell us about an important achievement in medical research
B. introduce the progress of drugs for dementia
C. tell us about health problem in nerve system
D. introduce a research program in human's brain
Most of us have read Cinderella, which is a story about a young woman living in poverty who meets the prince of her dreams. Some might not want to admit it, but there is a hidden Cinderella in everyone’s heart—we all wish we could achieve recognition or success after a period of obscurity (默默无闻).
Mary Santiago has that secret dream, too. Her story is featured in Another Cinderella Story, a film set in a US high school.
Mary is shy but loves to dance. Compared with other girls, she is invisible. However, her world changes completely when a famous teenager pop singer, Joey Parker, appears.
Joey is everything the rest of the boys in her class are not—kind, handsome and desirable. Mary and Joey’s paths cross at a ball. They meet and fall in love with each other. But when Mary has to rush back home, she leaves behind her MP3 player, which becomes the only clue Joey has to find the girl of his dreams. Of course, there is a wicked stepmother, who turns out to be Dominique Blatt and she takes in Mary after her dancer mother dies. Dominique treats Mary like a maid and does everything she can to make sure Mary doesn’t get into the top dance school. Her two daughters are equally determined to stop Joey falling for Mary, even if that means embarrassing her.
The story, though it mostly follows Cinderella, does add a few modern day twists to the classic fairy tale. Refreshingly, the film, unlike many high school films, does not focus on looks, although the actors are all beautiful. There is also a lot less materialism in Another Cinderella Story than in many similar movies.
“The movie takes the Cinderella fairytale as its jumping off point,” writes movie critic Amber Wilkinson. “Yet the focus is firmly on following your dream.”
1.The first paragraph is mainly to _________.
A. inform us of the importance to marry a prince
B. remind us why Cinderella is popular all the years
C. build interest and lead us to Mary’s secret dream
D. tell us how interesting the fairy tale Cinderella is
2.What does Amber Wilkinson mean by his words?
A. The movie is exactly another copy of the Cinderella fairytale.
B. The movie is as good as the story Cinderella.
C. The movie and Cinderella both focus on following your dream.
D. The movie is based on the story Cinderella while a little different from it.
3.The passage is _________.
A. an introduction to Mary Santiago
B. an advertisement of a film
C. a story about following a dream
D. a film review
4.What can we infer from the passage?
A. Joey is just like other boys in Mary’s class.
B. The MP3 player helps Joey in finding Mary.
C. Not many people have a dream to be realized.
D. Mary’s mother influences her a lot in singing.
When I was growing up, my father and I always had totally different ideas. He thought that college was a waste of time, but for me it was of importance to finish college. He wanted me to work my way to the top as he had done in his field, but I wanted a different life. There was a time when we did not talk with each other.
A few months ago, I heard that my 84-year-old dad was in poor health. When he called and asked whether I could move from Colorado bank to Tennessee to help him, I knew he was seriously ill. I am his only child and so it was time to meet my father's requirement.
Two weeks after moving back, we bought a boat and started fishing again. Fishing was one of the few things that we did while I was young and that we both enjoyed. It is strange but true that as we are fishing we are able to put things that have kept us apart for so many years behind us. We are able to talk about things that we have never talked about before. Fishing has been healing the old wounds that have kept us apart.
It is not important how many fish we catch. It is about enjoying the relationship that we have not had for years. I' m 62 and he is 84. When we are on the lake fishing, it is like enjoying life. It is far better to find a way to put the unhappy past behind. I am so lucky to spend the happy time with my father in his last years. Now my heart is filled with love. A smile always graces my lips.
1.The author and his father became further apart because_______.
A. they lived very far from each other
B. they seldom went to see each other
C. they had different views on things
D. they only communicated by phone
2.For the author, fishing with his old father_____.
A. helps cure his father’s disease
B. makes him realize the importance of relaxation
C. is a good way to get close to nature
D. provides a chance for them to communicate
3.What can be the title for the text?
A. Fishing Brings Us Together
B. Forgiving Is Difficult
C. Memories of Old Days
D. My Beloved Father
Soon Marc found that abstract painting _____ its connection with life.
A. had lost B. has lost
C. has been lost D. had been lost
Kobe Bryant probably could have achieved more if he and Shaquille O'Neal never ______.
A. broke down B. split up
C. took off D. put off
