I did very badly at school. My headmaster thought I was ___ and when I was 14 he said, “You’re never going to be __ but a failure.”
After five years of __ jobs, I fell in love with a very nice middle-class girl. It was the best __that could have happened to me. I __ I wanted to do something positive (积极地) with my life because I wanted to prove to____ that what people said about me was __. Especially her mother, who had said to me, “Let’s __ it,you’ve failed at everything you’ve ever done.” So I tried hard with my__ and went to college. My first novel (小说)____ while I was at college.
`After college I taught during the __ in high schools and attended evening classes at London University, where I got a __ in history. I became a lecturer at a college and was thinking of __ that job to write full time ___ I was offered a part-time job at Leeds University. I began to feel proud of myself — ___ was a working-class boy who’d ____school early, now teaching at the university.
My writing career (职业) took off when I discovered my own style. Now I’m rich and ___, have been on TV, and met lots of film stars. ___ what does it mean? I ___ wish all the people that have put me down had __: “I believe in you. You’ll succeed.”
1.A. bright B. useless C. simple D. hopeful
2.A. anything B. something C. everything D. nothing
3.A. low B. poor C. good D. useful
4.A. support B. happiness C. surprise D. thing
5.A. admitted (承认) B. decided C. planned D. told
6.A. me B. them C. her D. it
7.A. wrong B. right C. stupid D. bad
8.A. see B. know C. understand D. face
9.A. experiment B. practice C. writing D. composition
10.A. came on B. came in C. came out D. came back
11.A. day B. night C. month D. year
12.A. graduation B. pass C. degree D. success
13.A. giving in B. giving back C. giving out D. giving up
14.A. while B. if C. when D. or
15.A. there B. here C. it D. that
16.A. left B. attended C. changed D. graduated
17.A. tired B. calm C. nervous . D. famous
18.A. And B. But C. However D. Well
19.A. just B. exactly C. so D. very
20.A. praised B. said C. answered D. advised
For a long time being happy was considered natural,and there was nothing special to do about it. Now we know that we can work at getting along well with other people. It is possible to act in such a way that other people will like us better.
One way is being unselfish,not wanting everything your own way or asking for the best share of everything, including the attention of your friends. Another way is to look for good points, not bad ones in other people.
You don’t have to be spineless(无骨气的)in order to be popular. In fact,you will be liked and respected(尊重)if you are not afraid to stand up for your rights(权利). But do it politely and pleasantly. One way to develop a good character is being friendly and polite to your own group, to older people,to strangers and especially to those who do not look important or do not interest you.
You cannot expect to be perfect, so you must learn not to be too unhappy when you make a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, and no one is to be blamed unless he refuses to learn from them. Many young people become discouraged(泄气的) when they know their unpleasant qualities—selfishness,laziness,etc. Just remember that we all have some of these faults and have to fight against them.
When something is wrong,it is best to try to make it right. Perhaps you don’t like a teacher or a classmate. Try to see why,and look at yourself,too. Make sure that you are not doing something to make others dislike you. In time, things may turn out all right, then you simply have to learn to get along the best you can with the situation, without thinking too much about it. Worrying never helps in a situation you can’t change.
1.One of the two ways the author suggested for us to get along with others is _____.
A. to draw attention of our friends
B. to demand the best share of everything
C. to look for treasure in order to be successful
D. to pay more attention to other people's strong points
2.According to the passage if one wants to be popular one needs to _____.
A. be polite and friendly
B. give up some rights
C. avoid arguing with other people
D. be ready to change his or her character
3.The passage shows that there is no perfect person but someone should be blamed if he _____.
A. is no better than others
B. is selfish and lazy
C. does not draw a lesson from his own fault
D. is very happy about his unpleasant quality
Suppose you work in a big firm and find English very important for your job because you often deal with foreign businessmen. Now you are looking for a place where you can improve your English, especially your spoken English.
Here are some advertisements about English language training from newspapers.
You may find the information you need.
★Global English Center
*General English in all four skills:listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
*3-month(700 yuan), 6-month(1200 yuan)and one-year(2000 yuan) courses.
*Choice of morning or evening classes, 3 hours per day. Mon-Fri.
*Experienced college English teachers.
*Close to city center and bus stops.
Tel:67605272 Add:105 Zhongshan Road, 100082.
★Modern Language School
Special courses in English for business, traveling, banking, hotel management and office skills.
*Small classes(12-16 students)on Sat. & Sun. From 2∶00-5∶00 p.m.
*Native English teachers from Canada and USA.
*Language lab and computers supplied.
*3-month course:1,050 yuan; 6-month course:1,850 yuan.
Write or phone:Modern Language School, 675 Park Road. 100056
Tel:67353019
★The 21st Century English Training Center
*We specialize in effective teaching at all levels.
*We offer morning or afternoon classes, both of which last three months and a half at a cost of 800 yuan.
*We also have a six-week TOEFL preparation class during winter and summer holidays.
*Entrance exams: June 1 and Dec. 1.
*Only 15-minute walk from city center.
Call 67801642 for more information.
★The International House of English
*Three/Six-month English courses for students of all levels at very low cost: 60 yuan for 13 hours per week; convenient class hours: 9∶00-12∶00 a.m. and 2∶00-5∶00 p.m.
*A four-month evening program for developing speaking skills(same cost as day classes).
*Well-trained Chinese and foreign teachers experienced in teaching English as a second/foreign language. Free sightseeing and social activities. Very close to Central Park.
For further information call 67432308.
1.You work from 9∶00 a.m. to 4∶00 p.m. every day. Which schools will you choose?
A. Global English Center and Modern Language School
B. Global English Center and the International House of English
C. Modern Language School and the 21st Century English Training Center
D. The 21st Century English Training Center and the International House of English
2.You will probably prefer to go to the International House because it _________.
A. offers free sightseeing and social activities
B. has a special course in spoken English
C. costs less than the other schools
D. has native English teachers
3.If you take the evening program at the International House, you will pay about _________.
A. 60 yuan
B. 240 yuan
C. 720 yuan
D. 960 yuan
A nine-year-old kid was sitting at his desk when suddenly there was a puddle(水潭、泥坑) between his feet and the front of his trousers was wet.He thought his heart was going to stop because he couldn't possibly imagine how this had happened.It had never happened before, and he knew that when the boys found out he would never hear the end of it. When the girls found out, they would never speak to him again as long as he lived.
He prayed this prayer, "Dear God, I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat!" He looked up from his prayer and here came the teacher with a look in her eyes that said he had been discovered.As the teacher was walking toward him, a classmate named Susie was carrying a goldfish bowl full of water.Susie tripped (绊倒) in front of the teacher and dumped (倒) the bowl of water in the boy's lap.The boy pretended to be angry, but all the while was saying to himself, "Thank you.Lord!"
Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy was the object of sympathy.The teacher rushed him downstairs and gave him gym shorts to put on while his trousers dried out.All the other children were on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk.The sympathy was wonderful.But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his had been transferred (转移) to someone else+—Susie.She tried to help, but they told her to get out.
When school was over, the boy walked over to Susie and whispered, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Susie whispered back, "I wet my trousers once, too!"
1.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 means ____ .
A. the boys would never play with him
B. the boys would treat him as usual
C. he would hardly hear any praise from the boys
D. he would be laughed at by the.boys endlessly
2.After Susie dumped water in his lap, the boy was in a state of ____.
A. excitement B. relief
C. anxiety D. anger
3.What did the other kids do after the incident?
A. They offered him dry clothes.
B. They laughed at the boy rudely,
C. They helped the boy do the cleaning.
D. They urged the boy to get out angrily,
4.Why did Susie dump water in the boy's lap?
A. The boy asked her to do so.
B. She just did it by accident.
C. The teacher tripped her on purpose.
D. She knew the boy's embarrassment.
Where do you go when you want to learn something?School?A friend?A tutor?These are all _________ places of learning.But it may well be that the learning you really want _________ somewhere else instead.I had the _________ of seeing this first hand on a _________.
My daughter plays on a recreational soccer team.They did very well this season and so _________ a tournament,which normally was only for more skilled club teams.This led to some _________ experiences on Saturday as they played against teams _________ trained.Through the first two games,her _________ did not get one serious shot on goal.As a parent,I _________ seeing my daughter playing her best,__________ still defeated.
It seemed that something clicked with the __________ between Saturday and Sunday.When they __________ for their Sunday game,they were __________ different.They had begun to integrate (融合) the kinds of play and teamwork they had __________ the day before into their __________.They played aggressively and __________ scored a goal.
It __________ me that playing against the other team was a great __________ moment for all the girls on the team.I think it is a general principle.__________ is the best teacher.The lessons they learned may not be __________ what they would have gotten in school,but are certainly more personal and meaningful,because they had to work them out on their own.
1.A. public B. traditional C. official D. special
2.A. passes B. works C. lies D. ends
3.A. dream B. idea C. habit D. chance
4.A. trip B. holiday C. weekend D. square
5.A. won B. entered C. organized D. watched
6.A. painful B. strange C. common D. practical
7.A. less B. poorly C. newly D. better
8.A. fans B. tutors C. class D. team
9.A. imagined B. hated C. avoided D. missed
10.A. if B. or C. but D. as
11.A. girls B. parents C. coaches D. viewers
12.A. dressed B. showed up C. made up D. planned
13.A. slightly B. hardly C. basically D. completely
14.A. seen B. known C. heard D. read
15.A. styles B. training C. game D. rules
16.A. even B. still C. seldom D. again
17.A. confused B. struck C. reminded D. warned
18.A. touching B. thinking C. encouraging D. learning
19.A. Experience B. Independence C. Curiosity D. Interest
20.A. harmful to B. mixed with C. different from D. applied to
Plastic-Eating Worms
Humans produce more than 300 million tons of plastic every year. Almost half of that winds up in landfills(垃圾填埋场),and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans. qSo far there is no effective way to get rid of it, but a new study suggests an answer may lie in the stomachs of some hungry worms.
Researchers in Spain and England recently found that the worms of the greater wax moth can break down polyethylene, which accounts for 40% of plastics. The team left 100 wax worms on a commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours, and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams, or almost 3% of it. To confirm that the worms' chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown, the researchers made some worms into paste(糊状物) and applied it to plastic films. 14 hours later the films had lost 13% of their mass--apparently broken down by enzymes(酶)from the worms' stomachs. Their findings were published in Current Biology in 2017.
Federica Bertocchini, co-author of the study, says the worms' ability to break down their everyday food-beeswax--also allows them to break down plastic "Wax is a complex mixture, but the basic bond in polyethylene, the carbon-carbon bond, is there as well, "she explains. "The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond. "
Jennifer Debruyn, a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee, who was not involved in the study, says it is not surprising that such worms can break down polyethylene. But compared with previous studies, she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting. The next step, DeBruyn says, will be to identify the cause of the breakdown. Is it an enzyme produced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes(肠道微生物)?
Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team’s findings might one day help employ the enzyme to break down plastics in landfills. But she expects using the chemical in some kind of industrial process-not simply "millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic.”
1.What can we learn about the worms in the study?
A. They take plastics as their everyday food.
B. They are newly evolved creatures.
C. They can consume plastics.
D. They wind up in landfills.
2.According to Jennifer DeBruyn, the next step of the study is to .
A. identify other means of the breakdown
B. find out the source of the enzyme
C. confirm the research findings
D. increase the breakdown speed
3.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the chemical might .
A. help to raise worms
B. help make plastic bags
C. be used to clean the oceans
D. be produced in factories in future