Twelve-year-old Allen decided to leave home city and make a living by himself because his family was too poor.
Before he left,his father asked him what he was going to do.Allen answered,“I want to learn____ performance.”
His father was___ with his answer, “What? No, you can’t do that. Circus is the place for clowns in many people’s eyes. Our family will be __ of you.”
But Allen __, “Our family is so poor right now. Which is more important to you, ___or clothing and food? I will give you some money every month from the circus. It probably will be a huge __.” His father was very __, “If you go there, somebody will know about it very soon and I’ll be very __.”
After going __ a lot of difficulties,Allen finally found a circus and convinced the __ to let him stay. He worked very hard studying magic and lived with animals.
Every month, his parents would get a__from him. But they never knew his address. They knew the money was from Allen but when people asked them about Allen’s __, they never told them the truth. Later, his parents received more and more money from him.
Then,a __ named Albert became very famous in the whole world.Everyone thought__ of his performance. Lots of people hurried to see his performance from far away.
One day, Allen’s father went to visit a relative in another __. The relative paid a lot of money for tickets of Albert the magician’s show. Allen’s father went to the show with the relative. During the show, Allen’s father got totally __ by the magician’s tricks. When the magician took off his__,the father found Albert was his son,Allen.
Allen recognized his father. His father __ him, “Why did you change your name?”
“Because you said you would be embarrassed for me.”
“But nobody will __ the famous magician is my son Allen.”
We want all the best things in life and avoid the bad past. However, every good thing comes at a __. You can’t have them all without giving up something.
1.A. music B. theatre C. circus D. animal
2.A. satisfied B. unhappy C. curious D. hopeful
3.A. guilty B. proud C. tired D. ashamed
4.A. insisted B. demanded C. added D. declined
5.A. dignity B. popularity C. name D. money
6.A. career B. success C. fortune D. performance
7.A. convincing B. stubborn C. understanding D. confused
8.A. embarrassed B. disappointed C. annoyed D. frightened
9.A. over B. after C. beyond D. through
10.A. guard B. owner C. trainer D. performer
11.A. letter B. photo C. check D. note
12.A. job B. performance C. address D. boss
13.A. clown B. magician C. musician D. writer
14.A. badly B. ill C. highly D. nothing
15.A. village B. city C. circus D. country
16.A. affected B. addicted C. persuaded D. impressed
17.A. jacket B. glasses C. mask D. gloves
18.A. hugged B. praised C. thanked D. blamed
19.A. know B. doubt C. admit D. acknowledge
20.A. reason B. point C. reward D. price
The modern competitive sport of weightlifting originated in 19th-century Europe and was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. 1. At that time, simple competitions were held to see who could lift the heaviest weight.
The first worldwide weightlifting championships were held in London in 1891. At that time, there were no female competitors. Today, the World Weightlifting Championships, organized by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), are held every year. 2.
Weightlifting as an Olympic event got off to an unsmooth start. It was not held as a separate event in the first games held in 1896, but as a field event. 3. The sport returned to the Olympics again in 1904, this time as part of the athletics program. Not until 1920 did weightlifting make its real Olympic comeback. The 1920 Olympic Games, held in Antwerp, Belgium, marked weightlifting’s debut（首次露面）as a separate event. 4. Previously, weightlifters in the Olympics were all required to compete against each other, regardless of their size. One-hand lifting was dropped from the sport in 1928. Various weightlifting exercises were added and later removed over many years until 1972. 5. The 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney saw the introduction of the women’s competition, although the IWF has held the World Weightlifting Championships for women since 1987.
A. The 1940 and 1944 Games were canceled.
B. It is a sport in which barbells are lifted competitively.
C. The 1900 Games had no weightlifting presence at all.
D. The championships include 15 separate weight types for both men and women.
E. The 1972 Olympic Games finally presented the weightlifting program in its present form.
F. The sport, however, dates back to ancient civilizations including China, Egypt and Greece.
G. The Antwerp Games also introduced one-hand lifting and weight divisions to the new event.
When you search Google or use Amazon, you might assume the results you see are the same as those viewed by your friends, family and other Internet users. But you’d be wrong. Websites and social networks track your location and search history and make assumptions about your age, race, sex and political views. They then show ads they believe to be the most relevant, in order to maximize clicks, but personalize which results you see by eliminating what they think is irrelevant.
This is sold to the public as positive, making each web session relevant and interesting, yet it is leading researchers to fear this could widen divides between the North and South, rich and poor, and young and old. For example, in terms of wealth, if users are only ever shown particular products and job advertisements based on how much they earn or where they live, these users will never be given the opportunities to increase their wealth, or how much they spend on items.
Princeton University has created bots（自动程序）, each with their own fake profiles. These bots have different fake ages and sexes, earn different levels of money, are virtually(虚拟地) based in various locations around the world and have different interests. By using these bots to scan and research the web, the researchers hope to create a picture of not only what each of them sees, but also what sites they are missing out on.
According to lead researcher, Arvind Narayanan, “Our goal is a web privacy census（普查）which will be a comprehensive map of who are collecting what information, what they are inferring from it, and who they are sharing it with. It is an important step in our final goal of figuring out how users are treated based on that information.”
Personalization also has its benefits. Shopping sites such as Amazon and eBay can scan a user’s search and purchase history to offer suggestions. This can help find similar, cheaper items or items that are more suited to their needs at a glance. It’s also possible to disable personalized ads and results. Google’s search engine lets you switch off personalization, for example.
Researchers from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and Yahoo felt the issue was so potentially damaging, and they have also created a way to “burst the filter(过滤) bubble”. They believe that just because people have opposing views on certain topics it doesn’t mean they won’t share interests with others.
1.The underlined word “eliminating” in Paragraph 1 probably means “_______”.
A. decorating B. removing
C. personalizing D. protecting
2.Princeton University created bots to ______.
A. explain why different websites are personalized
B. offer users some advice on how to protect privacy
C. assess how personalization is affecting Internet users
D. stress the advantages and disadvantages of personalization of websites
3.Which of the following websites have done something to cut off personalization?
A. Google and Yahoo. B. eBay and Google.
C. Amazon and eBay. D. Amazon and Yahoo.
4.What is this passage mainly about?
A. Different websites are doing something to offer quality service.
B. Personalized ads and search results could be creating different web pages.
C. Personalization of different sites will lead to users’ privacy being violated.
D. Personalization of shopping sites makes online shopping more convenient.
Many people may have watched the film “March of the Penguins”, which shows a real group of birds in Antarctica. Imagine a group of fat black and white birds walking in a line. Suddenly, one penguin loses his balance and falls on the ice. Every time penguins fall down, people laugh. The animals are cute!
People like the film very much. So much, in fact, that police in England think that it may be the reason behind a crime. A man went to a zoo in London and stole a baby penguin. Authorities think that the man stole the penguin after seeing the film and believe he wanted to give it away as a Christmas gift.
Michael Gauthier-Clerc, an expert studying penguins, thinks that many people like penguins but some people do not understand them. He told The New York Times newspaper, “People love the penguin’s colors, its way of standing straight upright and the way it walks.”
These things make penguins seem cute to people, but there are good reasons for all of these things. For example, penguins move from side to side when they walk and may seem to be out of balance. But Doctor Gauthier-Clerc says that the penguins waddle to save energy. The penguin’s colour also has a special purpose. It protects the penguins when they are swimming. From below, larger animals cannot see the penguin’s white underside because it looks the same as the bright sky or ice. And from above, other animals cannot see the penguin’s black back against the dark ocean floor.
The penguins’ colors protect them in nature. But scientists have found that some of these physical details also have an effect on humans. They make animals seem cute to people. Scientists believe that humans are very sensitive to things that are cute, such as human baby and even objects that may look like parts of a baby.
Recent studies show that cute images affect the brain in a special way. A study done at the University of Michigan tested young people’s reactions to images. It found that young people believed a message more if the message was joined by a cute picture. The researchers showed the young people two messages. One was a simple anti-smoking message. The other showed a cute animal telling them that smoking was bad. The conclusion turned out that the young people trusted the cute message more than the simple message.
1.In the film “March of the Penguins”, ________.
A. a baby penguin is stolen B. a penguin is sent out as a gift
C. penguins are cute and attractive D. penguins have a bad sense of balance
2.It can be inferred from the passage that _______ .
A. a walking penguin has more energy than a swimming one
B. a penguin walks in a funny way to prevent itself from falling
C. a shop selling baby products are likely to make more money
D. a website with cute pictures may attract more young visitors
3.Scientists have found that the penguins’ color can ________.
A. change at different places B. help them keep warm
C. make people have pity on them D. protect them from being hunted
4.The study carried out by the University of Michigan shows that _________.
A. cute messages mislead people
B. cuteness influences people’s judgment
C. humans react to anything that is cute
D. a simple message is more convincing than a cute message
One evening last summer, when I asked my 17-year-old son, Ray, for help with dinner, his response surprised me, “What’s a colander（漏勺）?” he asked.
I could only blame myself. Nobody’s hands went in the sauce except my own. But that night, as I explained with a touch of panic that a colander is the thing with holes in it, I wondered what else I hadn’t prepared Ray for. I felt confident that I’d raised a self-reliant boy, as we all try to do. But could he boil water? Sew on a button? Wash his clothes without turning them pink? No, no and no. Suddenly it hit me: He’d be leaving the house in a year to attend college. No way was I going to set a spoiled prince into the world.
As parents, while we focus on our child’s confidence and character, we perhaps don’t always consider that we are also raising someone’s future roommate, boyfriend, husband, or father. I wanted to know that I’d raised a boy who would never ask the woman in his life, “What’s for dinner?” So I came up with a plan: I would offer Ray a private home economics course. I was delighted to find that he didn’t say no.
For two hours, three days a week, Ray was all mine. One day, as his tomato sauce reduced on the stove, he washed and seasoned a chicken for toasting. Then he rolled out the piecrust（馅饼皮）and filled it with apples, all while listening to my explanation on the importance of preheating an oven.
Three of my four grandparents were tailors, so Ray was genetically programmed to quickly master the basics, like mending a split seam or refastening a button. One day we covered Advanced Laundry, in which I taught him never to mix a red sweatshirt with white shirts or put sweaters in the dryer. I knew that he would rather have been shooting hoops in the driveway than learning to mend socks with his mother -- he tried to beg off sewing lessons, even though I insisted that one day, someone would find the sight of him fixing his own shirt very attractive -- but it couldn’t be denied that he was learning, and more than just housekeeping. “I appreciate more what you do as a mom,” he told me one day.
Ray now understands the finer points of cooking, and more important, he realizes there’s nothing masculine（男子气的）about being helpless. Not only can he make his own dinner, he can make it for his family, too. That’s what I call a man.
1.Hearing her son’s question, the author felt _______.
A. shocked B. angry
C. disappointed D. calm
2.We can learn from the text that Ray ________.
A. made great progress in cooking
B. preferred sewing to cooking
C. was unwilling to take the course at first
D. always thought it attractive to do housework
3.The underlined part “more than just housekeeping” shows that Ray _______.
A. fell in love with housework B. did other work in the house
C. acknowledges the author’s efforts D. began to be more independent
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A. Are Women Programmed for Housework? B. Should Boys Be Involved in Housework?
C. I’m Proud I’ve Raised a Curious Son D. A Present for My Future Daughter-in-law
What’s best to read this year?
Secrets I Know (Random House Children’s Books, ages 3-7)
This tale written by Kallie George and pictured by Paola Zakimi follows a young girl and her little friend as they move from rain to sunshine, from pleasant loneliness to sweet friendship, and finally from adventures on earth to an exploration of the sky above. The colors of Zakimi’s pencil drawings are calming and George’s poetic text tells her story with simple language.
Pandora (Clarion Books, ages 3-7)
The award-winning author Victoria Turnbull tells the story of a little fox Pandora. Pandora lives alone. She makes herself a handsome home, but no one ever comes to visit. Then one day something falls from the sky -- a bird with a broken wing. Little by little, the bird helps Pandora feel less lonely. Turnbull’s watercolor and colored pencil drawings make this story of friendship and growth an atmospheric delight.
Prince and Pirate (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Younger Readers, ages 5-8)
A different kind of friendship is described in this book, by Charlotte Gunnufson with pictures by Mike Lowery. Prince and Pirate are a pair of mismatched fish put into the same aquarium（水族馆）. At first it seems that they’ll never learn to be friends. It’s only when both take pity on a frightened dogfish that they learn the benefits of cooperation, and soon all three fish become good friends.
The Giant Jumperee (Dinal Books, ages 3-5)
The story was written by the award-winning British author Julia Donaldson. When Rabbit hears a loud voice bellowing（吼叫）threateningly from inside a cave, he gathers Cat, Bear and Elephant to help him decide what to do. But it’s Mama Frog who fearlessly confronts（面对）the unknown creature. Helen Oxenbury’s soft watercolors create a beautiful countryside and her characterizations of the animals are impressive.
1.Who pictured the book Pandora?
A. Kallie George. B. Victoria Turnbull.
C. Paola Zakimi. D. Charlotte Gunnufson.
2.Which book tells a story about courage?
A. Pandora. B. Secrets I Know.
C. Prince and Pirate. D. The Giant Jumperee.
3.What do the four books have in common?
A. Their publishers are the same one. B. Their characters are all animals.
C. They all have pencil drawings. D. They are all for younger readers.
