As my husband, Doug, stood on the busy New York city street to stop a taxi, I tried to protect my daughter from the cold December wind and rain. I put my head down to kiss her______face.
Frustrated and wet, my husband gave up his attempt to hail a taxi. I knew the feeling. Just after her first birthday, we were told our daughter Katie has a ________ brain illness. Since that moment, Doug and I felt like _______ in a marathon race where the finish line kept disappearing. We knew Katie was running out of ________. It had taken months before we finally had a name for the ________, but we were told only a few specialists in the world knew how to ________ it. Now, as we finally found a brilliant doctor to ________ our girl, we were in a strange city in the cold rain.
Just at the moment, a middle-aged woman _______ and said, “Pardon me? May I offer you a(n) _______?
Before we could say ________, she continued, “It’s really no ________ for me. Just get in.”
It was then that I noticed her thick Irish ________, which ________ me up like hot soup. We ________ said, “Thanks! Roosevelt Hospital, please,” as we got in her car for the ride.
“Are you going for the baby?” she asked us.
I nodded my head, holding back my _______.
At the hospital, we _______ her a dozen times for the ride. As the woman hugged me, I noticed her face was ________ with tears. She promised to pray for us before she left.
After three more visits to New York and two more _______ surgeries (手术), Katie is cured. But the voice of the Irish Angel still rang as a constant________ of a tiny ray of light that appeared in our ______ days.
1.A. smiling B. tiny C. round D. beautiful
2.A. rare B. simple C. normal D. natural
3.A. passers-by B. judges C. lawyers D. runners
4.A. money B. confidence C. time D. courage
5.A. race B. illness C. doctor D. challenge
6.A. fix B. check C. reach D. explain
7.A. protect B. meet C. encourage D. save
8.A. pulled over B. put up C. turned down D. stood by
9.A. ride B. seat C. car D. umbrella
10.A. nothing B. anyone C. anything D. someone
11.A. difference B. question C. trouble D. loss
12.A. appearance B. accent C. custom D. hair
13.A. picked B. called C. woke D. warmed
14.A. normally B. simply C. angrily D. regularly
15.A. tears B. anger C. smile D. surprise
16.A. respected B. praised C. thanked D. accepted
17.A. annoyed B. disappointed C. happy D. wet
18.A. eye B. brain C. kidney D. heart
19.A. warning B. effort C. reminder D. exercise
20.A. busiest B. luckiest C. happiest D. darkest
Live Every Day Like It’s A Holiday
We feel great on holiday because we let go of everyday stresses and strains. 1. So whether or not you’re going away this summer, there’s plenty you can do to make sure you benefit from that holiday feeling.
Sleep like a holidaymaker
Sleep like a baby when you’re on your holidays but stay awake when you’re in your usual routine? 2. To reset your sleep pattern, avoid bringing problems to bed. That includes your phone, TV or laptop. Make sure the room is dark and cool. Aim for at least seven hours’ —just as you would on holiday.
Get moving
3. Given that exercise is cheap, healthy and reduces stress, it makes absolute sense to build it into your day. A walk will release happy hormones, and eases anxiety and mild depression.
4.
Part of the joy of going away is lingering over delicious food with families. Take up the holiday habit of sitting down as a family for at least one meal a day. Families who eat together experience less anxiety, less depression and less obesity, research has found.
Be a tourist in your own city
Part of the thrill of a holiday is the novelty of discovering a new place and doing new things. 5. At weekends, check out a new music venue, visit a different museum or have a drink in that interesting-looking pub you’re always walking past. It will get you out of routine and make you feel alive. A bit like a holiday, really.
A. Make your meals a celebration.
B. Carve out some dedicated quiet time.
C. If so, you might need to examine your sleep habits.
D. Just make sure you schedule it into your day or week.
E. But it’s also easy to be a holidaymaker in the place you live.
F. Research has even shown that vacations help health and well-being.
G. When you’re travelling, you walk around new cities without a second thought.
The clock always seems to be ticking rather too fast in the doctor’s office and the queue of patients outside the door seems to be pressing rather too hard. Some say it’s high time for the model of short, sharp one-to-one appointments to give way to shared medical appointments (SMAs共享医疗预约).
SMAs are doctor-patient visits in which a group of patients receive patient education and counseling(咨询), physical examination and medical support in a group setting. Typically SMAs are designed to have one or more doctors attend to a group of patients who share a common illness or medical condition. In contrast to one-to-one visits, SMAS provide a longer appointment time-frame as well as the opportunity for patients to have improved access to their physicians and meanwhile pick up additional information and support from peers.
However, doctors who have pioneered the shared appointment approach report that there are significant challenges involved. Dr. Sumego, director of shared medical appointments, Cleveland Clinic,identifies culture change as the most significant challenge. Physicians and nurses are trained in a model of personal service and privacy; the SMA approach is a fundamental challenge to those fixed ideas. They need shared goals and a way of testing the innovation against agreed standards. Dr. Sumego says, “The physicians may be worried about the possible chaos and efficiencies that are marketed. They also have to make the patients understand what their appointment is, and what the expectation is.”
“So, if an organization was looking to start shared medical appointments, I would advise them to start the buy-in from a few champion physicians, develop the work-flow and develop some experience. Provide some support behind what that best practice should look like. Create some standards so that, as the concept spreads, you can employ that experience to start the next shared medical appointments and the next.”
1.What is the purpose of the SMA approach?
A. To improve medical service. B. To promote doctors’ reputation.
C. To conduct medical research. D. To meet patients’ expectation.
2.According to Dr. Sumego, what prevents the SMA approach from being widely adopted?
A. Personal service. B. Fixed ideas.
C. Lack of equipment. D. Shared goals.
3.What can the underlined “buy-in”in Paragraph 4 be replaced by?
A. practice. B. organization.
C. purchase. D. support.
4.What can be learned about the SMA approach in the last paragraph?
A. It is currently being questioned. B. It is impractical in some areas.
C. It will enjoy wide popularity soon. D. It should be carried out step by step.
It began as a game: High school and college students studying computer technology figured out they could use personal computers to break into telephone company computers and make free, long-distance telephone calls. These young computer talents soon gained the name "hackers".
Police arrested a few hackers, but many went on to even more complex hacking. One of them was arrested for making illegal telephone calls and later he used a phone to change a police officer's credit records to get back at the officer for arresting him. He also used a computer to change his college records to give himself better grades.
As hackers gained experience, they began invading computers at banks, airlines and other businesses. In one case a hacker instructed an airline' s computer to give him free airplane tickets.
The U.S. government is worried that hackers may break into its networks of defense computers. The government's secrets are easily attacked because thousands of government computers are connected by telephone lines that hackers can get into.
In November 1988, a college student entered a U.S. Defense Department computer network called Arpanet. The hacker injected a computer program that made copies of itself throughout Arpanet. Some hackers use viruses to destroy all the data in a computer. But in this case, government officials shut down the network before the program reached every computer in the system. Shutting down the system angered many researchers who were using the computers. The hacker turned himself in to the police and he was charged with a crime.
The incident put the spotlight on computer hacking in the United States. Many companies have hired experts to protect their computers from hackers, and many computer experts now advise companies on how to protect their computers.
The U.S. government believes foreign governments have hired hackers to try to break into top-secret defense computers.
Experts disagree over whether a computer network can ever be safe from hacking. But in the future, some of the most outstanding minds in the U.S. will be working to frustrate the attempts of computer hackers.
1.What did the first hackers do?
A. They broke into government computers. B. They destroyed airplane ticket systems.
C. They played computer games. D. They made free phone calls.
2.Why can U.S. government computers be easily hacked into?
A. They have no defense systems. B. They are connected by telephone lines.
C. They are partly accessible to the public. D. They lack complex processing programs.
3.What happened to the government computers in November 1988?
A. They lost all of the important data.
B. They were shut down by researchers.
C. They were invaded by a college student.
D. They got totally ruined by a computer program.
4.What did companies decide to do to protect their computer systems?
A. Employ computer talents. B. Build secret defense systems.
C. Ask the government for help. D. Collect and analyze the data of hackers.
In recent years I have had two very good roles on television: Florence, the wisecracking maid on the series The Jeffersons, and Mary, the mother who holds things together on 227. But 17 years ago, in 1972 when I was just getting started in theater work, I thought I’d never make it as an actress. For that matter, I couldn’t even hold my life together or afford a home of my own.
Back then I had about as much self-confidence as a chicken in a fox’s nest. I was recovering from surgery and had been off work for six months from my job as a United Airlines reservations agent. I’d had some bit parts in local theater groups, but those came and went, not leading to anything bigger.
Worse, as a single mother with three youngsters, I had no place to live. My children were staying with their father while I recovered in an aunt’s apartment. Lying in bed, staring hopelessly at the wall, I didn’t know what to do or where to turn.
Then one Sunday morning I aimlessly turned on the television set, and there were actor Robert Young and his wife talking about their faith. I sat right up in bed. They said, “ When one door closes, a better one opens,” Well, I wasn’t going to just sit staring at the closed one. So I got up and trudged(跋涉) on. Even if my shoes wore out, I decided, my faith wouldn’t.
Later, when I began filling small parts in television productions, that self-confidence showed. I’d always done my best to play the role as I thought the director wanted, but now I found myself freer to interpret it, I was more natural, more me.
1.What do the underlined words “ hold my life together” in paragraph 1 probably mean?
A. Enjoy my life B. Support myself
C. Abandon my life D. Fight against my life
2.How did the author feel when she worked in the local theater?
A. Confident B. Excited
C. Nervous D. Disappointed
3.What can we learn about the author from paragraph 3?
A. She lived in her own apartment B. She had to stay with her father
C. She was confused about her future D. She was looked after by her kids
4.What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
A. To share her understanding of faith with us B. To prove her success in the TV acting
C. To show thanks to her respected aunt D. To tell how hard she brought up her children.
1.What is the purpose of this email?
A. To introduce the hotel to the guest.
B. To tell the guest how to cancel the reservation.
C. To show the hotel’s appreciation for the reservation.
D. To inform the guest of cancellation rules and request confirmation.
2.Which of the following is true about cancellation policy?
A. You can’t cancel the reservation.
B. You can call to cancel the reservation.
C. You can’t get any refund if you cancel the reservation at arrival.
D. You can get full refund if you cancel the reservation before arrival.
3.What do we know about the reservation status(状态)?
A. It has been confirmed. B. It needs to be confirmed within 3 days.
C. It has been cancelled. D. It will be cancelled within 3 days.
