Hundreds of years ago, a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots, a brave people, love their country. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland. But there were too many of the Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.
One night, the leader of the Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight, my men,” he said, “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle①. We must win, or we will die.”
They were all very tired. So they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they were very tired, too, and one by one, they fell asleep.
The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they went up the hill. Closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle (蓟). He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a minute they were on their feet and ready for a battle. The fighting was hard, but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved Scotland②.
The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people liked it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.
1.Hundreds of years ago, the Romans ____ .
A. came from the north through England to make war on Scotland
B. came to the north Scotland from England to make war on Scotland
C. came from the north of England to fight the Scots
D. came to the north from the south of Britain to fight the Scots
2.At the shout of a Roman soldier, all the Scots who were asleep at the hill ____ .
A. began to fight the Romans hard
B. stood up without putting on their shoes and began to fight
C. woke and rose immediately, ready to fight
D. put their feet into their shoes at once and were ready to fight
3.The result of the war is that ____ .
A. the Romans killed all the Scots
B. the Scots were defeated
C. the Scots were driven out of Scotland
D. the Scots defeated the Romans
4.The Scots made thistle their national flower because thistle ____ .
A. is lovely, though not beautiful
B. gave them happiness
C. is a kind of useful plant
D. helped the Scots in wiping out the Romans
Fading beauty
She is widely seen as proof that good looks can last for ever. But, at nearly 500 years of age, time is catching up with the Mona Lisa.
The health of the famous picture, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1505, is getting worse by the year, according to the Louvre Museum(卢浮宫博物馆) where it is housed.
“The thin, wooden panel on which the Mona Lisa is painted in oil has changed shape since experts checked it two years ago,” the museum said. Visitors have noticed changes but repairing the world’s most famous painting is not easy. Experts are not sure about the materials the Italian artist used and their current chemical state(化学状态).
Nearly 6 million people go to see the Mona Lisa every year, many attracted by the mystery of her smile. “It is very interesting that when you’re not looking at her, she seems to be smiling, and then you look at her and she stops,” said Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University. “It’s because direct vision (视觉) is excellent at picking up detail, but less suited to looking at shadows. Da Vinci painted the smile in shadows.”[
However, the actual history of the Mona Lisa is just as mysterious as the smile. Da Vinci himself loved it so much that he always carried it with him, until it was eventually sold to France’s King Francis I in 1519.
In 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre by a former employee, who took it out of the museum hidden under his coat. He said he planned to return it to Italy. The painting was sent back to France two years later.
During World War II, French hid the painting in small towns to keep it out of the hands of German forces.
Like many old ladies, the Mona Lisa has some interesting stories to tell.
1.What does the writer mean by “time is catching up with the Mona Lisa”?
A. The painting woman is not so beautiful any more.
B. Ageing is something that affects us all.
C. The painting needs repairing.
D. 
At such an old age, she is no longer popular.
2.What makes the repair work difficult?
A. The wooden panel is thin and old.
B. No one knows exactly what materials were used to create the painting and how it might respond to treatment.
C. The health of the painting is suffering.
D. Experts can’t agree on how to carry out repairs.
3.What makes her so mysterious according to Professor Livingston?
A. The materials the Italian artist used. B. The way she smiles.
C. The way Da Vinci painted the smile. D. It plays a trick upon the human eyes
Once there was an old farmer, with a horse which was almost as old as himself. He_____one morning with his young son, _____the horse before it died. Father and son walked, _____the farmer did not want the horse to be_____.
They met two men on the road_____said: “Why are you walking, farmer? You have a horse. It's_____to market.” The farmer knew that this was_____, so he rode on the horse, _____his son walked.
Then they met two old ladies. “_____are you doing up there, farmer? Can't you______how tired your boy is?” ______the farmer got down, and his son rode______.
______, three old men stopped them. One said: “Why are you walking, farmer?______. It's too hot for an old man like you to walk today.” So the farmer got up______his son, and they______. ______, a young woman passed them. “Why aren't you walking?” she asked. “It isn't______to market. Give your poor old horse a rest.”
So the farmer, and his son, got down______.
It is a fact that you cannot please______the people all the time.
1.A. set down B. set up C. set out D. set
2.A. selling B. buying C. to buy D. to sell
3.A. so B. that C. because D. when
4.A. very tired B. too tired C. quite tired D. tiring
5.A. which B. who C. as D. where
6.A. a long way B. a short way C. the right way D. the wrong way
7.A. real B. true C. truly D. really
8.A. as B. when C. while D. during
9.A. What B. How C. Why D. When
10.A. notice B. watch C. look D. see
11.A. Because B. As C. For D. So
12.A. thus B. yet C. instead D. either
13.A. First B. Finally C. Near D. Next
14.A. Sit down B. Sit up C. Get up D. Get down
15.A. behind B. after C. beside D. above
16.A. walked on B. rode on C. moved on D. drove on
17.A. Some time later B. A moment ago C. In no time D. At once
18.A. near B. long C. far D. short
19.A. once again B. on their own C. the other day D. all the same
20.A. both B. each of C. all D. none of
1.I invited her to dinner but she made no r____________ to my invitation..
2.M__________ to the enemies means cruelty to the people.
3.You can’t imagine the trouble we took _________(克服) the difficulty.
4.She knew it’s dangerous to visit him at night, but she set out r_____________ of the risk.
5.You can listen to Teen Talk. They will offer you some ____________(实际的，实用的) advice.
6.Those who b______ their countries will be hated by all the people.
7.Maybe I should tell them , so they won’t b_________ me for keeping a secret.
8.After getting to the 8th floor, he p______ for a while and then continued climbing.
9.My English teacher should ask us to answer an a______________(算术) problem that we would race to work out in our heads.
10.You should always help your friends without h____________.
Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patients to speed recovery or to cover the coming of death? In medicine as in law, government, and other lines of work, the requirements of honesty often seem dwarfed by greater needs; the need to protect patients from brutal news, to uphold a promise of secrecy or to advance the public interest.
What should doctors say, for example, to a 46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical checkup just before going on vacation with his family who, though he feels in perfect health, is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six months? Is it best to tell him the truth? If he asks, should doctors reject that he is ill, or minimize the gravity of the illness? Should they at least hide the truth until after the family vacation?
Doctors face such choices often. At times, they see important reasons to lie for the patients’ own sake; in their eyes, such lies differ sharply from self-serving ones.
Studies show that most doctors sincerely believe that the seriously ill patients do not want to know the truth about their condition, and that informing them of risks destroys their hope, so that they may recover more slowly, or deteriorate faster, perhaps even commit suicide.
But other studies show that, contrary to the belief of many physicians, a great majority of patients do want to be told the truth, even about serious illness, and feel cheated when they learn that they have been misled. We are also learning that truthful information, humanely conveyed, helps patients cope with illness; help them tolerate pain better with less medicine, and even recover faster after surgery.
There is an urgent need to debate this issue openly. Not only in medicine, but in other professions as well, practitioners may find themselves repeatedly in difficulty where serious consequences seem avoidable only through deception. Yet the public has every reason to know the professional deception, for such practices are peculiarly likely to become deeply rooted, to spread, and to trust. Neither in medicine, nor in law, government, or the social sciences can there be comfort in the old saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”
Title: 1. Or Not
Different 2. | ·Most doctors are in 3. of lying for the patients’ own sake. |
·A great majority of patients 4. on being told the truth. | |
Reasons for 5. lying to patients | ·Informing patients of the truth about their condition destroys their hope, 6. to recovering more slowly, or deteriorating faster, perhaps even 7. themselves. |
Reasons 8. lying to patients | ·The truthful information helps patients to 9. their illness, help them tolerate pain better with less medicine, and even recover faster after surgery. ·Most patients feel 10. when they learn that they have been misled. |
Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don’t come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And, in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it’ll require even more time, time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success, you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost. It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent, but thinking that way does you no good, and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work, don’t expect to receive any rewards. Consistent, hard work won’t guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.
1.Paragraph 1 mainly talks about ______.
A. the meaning of success B. the reasons for success
C. the standards of success D. the importance of success
2.Successful people suggest doing what one loves because ______.
A. work makes one feel pain B. one tends to enjoy his work
C. it takes a lot of time to succeed D. one gives up his work easily
3.What can we infer from Paragraph 4?
A. People sometimes succeed without luck or talent.
B. Successful people like to show their great skills.
C. People need to achieve success at the cost of life.
D. It helps to think that luck or talent leads to success.
4.What is the main theme of the passage?
A. Having a goal is vital to success.
B. Being good is different from being great.
C. Luck, talent and family help to achieve success.
D. One cannot succeed without time and practice.
