We talk a lot in the U.S. about success. Success is the dream and the end point. And not by coincidence the idea that hard work leads to personal success is as American as apple pie.
But the reality is that sometimes we fail. And sometimes things, through no fault of our own, don’t go our way. We’re faced with a life-changing diagnosis(诊断), the passing of a loved one or job loss. We don’t, as a society, have as much to say here.
I think uncertainty does us all harm. We’d feel better equipped to deal with uncertainty if we talked about it more. I had so fully bought into the belief that with enough effort, I could control what happened in my life. I actually caught myself thinking I could “work my way out” of my cancer. As it turns out, cancer doesn’t really care about one’s work.
We might also make wiser decisions--this isn’t just a feel-good exercise. For example, technology and medicine have progressed to the point that many patients are living longer than they would have even a decade ago. These are achievements worth celebrating. And yet I wonder if the focus on success is sometimes misguided here as well. If it is one reason why we tend to pursue expensive end-of-life treatments, they often accomplish little other than to make a patient’s final days painful and frightening. The fact is that, when asked, many patients would rather focus on living meaningfully in their final days.
My hope here is to make a case for thinking about meaning, in the same way we think about pursuing success. In that spirit, I’ve asked several people, each of whom has met misfortune, how they find meaning in their lives. The diversity in their responses reflects the fact that there are no right or wrong answers here. We each can find meaning in different things.
1.What is the typical American idea?
A. Success is the dream. B. Success lies in hard work.
C. Apple pie is the best food. D. Failure is always avoidable.
2.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 probably refer to?
A. Equipment. B. Culture.
C. Uncertainty. D. Belief.
3.In their final days many patients actually want to______.
A. live as long as possible. B. live a more meaningful life.
C. make great progress in medicine. D. get expensive end-of-life treatments.
4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. The author thinks pursuing success is wrong.
B. We can benefit from some unlucky things.
C. We can find the same meaning in our life.
D. Personally there are different meanings in life
A latest research led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found a clear link between the color of a taxi and its accident rate. An analysis of 36 months of detailed taxi, driver and accident data from two fleets of yellow and blue taxis in Singapore suggested that yellow taxis have fewer accidents than blue taxis. The higher visibility of yellow makes it less difficult for drivers to avoid getting into accidents with yellow taxis, leading to a lower accident rate.
The study was led by Prof Hou. To test whether there was a relationship between the color of a taxi and the number of accidents the taxi had, the research team analyzed data collected by the largest taxi company in Singapore. The researchers found that yellow taxis have about 6.1 fewer accidents per 1,000 taxis per month.
They also studied the economic effect of changing the color of the entire fleet of taxis to yellow. The Singapore taxi company involved in the study owns about 16,700 taxis in a ratio (比例) of one yellow to three blue taxis. If a commercial decision is made to switch from blue to yellow taxis, 76.6 fewer accidents will occur per month or 917 fewer accidents per year.
Assuming an average repair cost of $1,000 per car and a downtime of six days, the color of all taxis to yellow could produce an annual saving of $2 million.
“We are eager to continue to validate(证实) the findings of our study by looking at the use of yellow in other types of public transport, such as school buses. For example, we hope to compare the accident rates of yellow school buses against those of other colors to find out if yellow is indeed a safer color for school buses. Besides, we’re also interested to look at private-hire vehicles and do a comparison of the accident rates of vehicles that are of different colors, ”explained Prof Hou.
1.Why do yellow taxis result in fewer accidents?
A. Because yellow can be seen more easily.
B. Because yellow signals a warning of danger.
C. Because drivers tend to be more careful in yellow taxis.
D. Because people act more quickly in yellow surroundings.
2.What’s Prof Hou’s study based on?
A. Physical risks of taxi passengers’ experience.
B. The economic effect of changing taxi color.
C. Personal reports from taxi drivers worldwide.
D. Data from Singapore's largest taxi company.
3.What do Prof Hou’s words in the last paragraph suggest?
A. School buses should be painted yellow. B. Their findings are worth popularizing.
C. Their study will be furthered. D. Yellow should be widely used in public transport.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A. Safer to ride in yellow taxis B. Caution: yellow taxis ahead
C. Why are yellow Taxis preferred? D. How can colors help prevent accidents?
The third week of SEAL training means Hell Week. It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that you paddle down to the mud flats（泥滩） and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing-cold mud, the howling wind and the increasing pressure from the instructors to quit. As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having broken the rules, was ordered into the mud. The mud consumed each man till there was nothing visible but our heads. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quit—just five men and we could get out of the extreme cold.
Looking around the mud flat, it was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up--eight more hours of freezing cold. The chattering teeth and shivering moans (呻吟）of the trainees were so loud that it was hard to hear anything. And then, one voice began to echo (回荡）through the night--one voice raised in song. The song was terribly out of tune, but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice became two, and two became three, and before long everyone in the class was singing. We knew that if one man could rise above the great suffering then others could as well. The instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singing—but the singing went on. And somehow, the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little less bitter and the dawn not so far away.
If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world it is the power of hope. The power of one person, Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala, can change the world by giving people hope.
So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you're up to your neck in mud.
1.From the passage, we can see that being ordered into the mud was _____.
A. the last part of the training
B. the most useful part of the training
C. the real test of the trainees' intelligence
D. the punishment for the training class
2.The training class singing together ______.
A. inspired the instructors
B. helped them to kill the time
C. kept them from falling into the mud
D. encouraged them to fight their difficulty
3.The writer described his SEAL training experience mainly to tell the readers _____.
A. the power of a large crowd of people B. the advantage of the training
C. the way to bring about changes D. the reason to promote singing
4.In the last paragraph, the phrase "up to your neck in mud" most probably means _____ .
A. in an extremely difficult situation B. in a hard training class
C. in terribly cold weather D. in a lower social position
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1.According to the text, the sales representative the company is looking for should______.
A. sell into big businesses
B. be able to manage paperwork
C. meet over 5 customers each day
D. see the sales manager in Dallas TX frequently
2.If hired, you can______.
A. receive a monthly salary of $ 750
B. get a special customer facing position
C. enjoy a strong compensation program
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3.Which of the following can help you apply successfully?
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假如你是高一的学生李华，在英语学习方面遇到了一些困难，现在请你用英语给你校的外教Chris先生写信，希望能够得到他的帮助。
内容包括：1.自我介绍 2.说明困难 3.提出请求
注意：词数 120 词左右，可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
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假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改:在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;
2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
My cousin, Daniel, is the most success person I know, even though he has had many difficulties on his road to achieve success. His parents died in a accident when he was 17. Daniel needed to take care of his two younger brother, so he left school and found a job at a supermarket. At night, he helped them about homework and did all the housework. Daniel was also a very good worker. His boss was decided to help him go to college. It takes Daniel eight years, but finally he finished. Now Daniel plans attend a business management course and start his own business three years late. Daniel has a dream, but he is working hard to achieve it.
