It was a rainy and foggy day, and I had no desire to drive up the winding mountain road to my daughter Carolyn's house. But she insisted that I come to see something at the top of the mountain_________.
So here I was, _________ making the two-hour journey through the_________ that hung like veils.
“I’ll stay for lunch, but I’m heading back down as soon as the fog lifts," I announced when I _______.
"But I need your car to the garage to _________ my car," Carolyn said. "Could we at least do that?"
“How far is it?" I asked.
"About three minutes," she said. "I'll _________ I'm used to it."
After ten minutes on the mountain road, I looked at her _________. "I thought you said three minutes."
She _________ . "This is a detour."
Turning down a narrow track, we___________the car and got out.
From the top of the mountain, sloping for several acres across folds and valleys, were __________ of colorful daffodils (水仙花). It looked as though the sun had__________gold down the mountainside. Here and there were coral-colored tulips (郁金香). And as if these were not__________, western bluebirds played over the heads of the daffodils jofully
Who created such beauty? How? When?
As we __________ the home that stood in the center of the property, we saw a(n) __________ that read: "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are __________ About."
The first answer was: "One Woman Two Hands, Two Feet, and Very Little__________." The second was: "One at a Time." The third: "Started in 1958.”
One at a time. She started almost 40 years ago, probably just the beginning of an idea, but she__________ at it. The wonder of it would not let me__________". I imagine," I said, "If I'd had an idea and worked at it, just a little bit every day, what might I have__________?
Carolyn looked at me sideways, smiling. "Start tomorrow," she said."__________ yet, start today."
1.A.at last B.once more C.anytime D.anyway
2.A.unwillingly B.disappointedly C.fearlessly D.excitedly
3.A.forest B.fog C.village D.mountain
4.A.quitted B.arrived C.failed D.agreed
5.A.put aside B.give away C.pick up D.carry out
6.A.drive B.check C.see D.experiment
7.A.innocently B.respectfully C.anxiously D.gratefully
8.A.panicked B.hesitated C.accepted D.smiled
9.A.fixed B.parked C.abandoned D.switched
10.A.pictures B.fantasies C.rivers D.smells
11.A.swallow B.turned C.poured D.washed
12.A.instructive B.tiring C.standard D.enough
13.A.recognized B.abandoned C.discovered D.approached
14.A.sign B.woman C.machine D.instruction
15.A.Curious B.Enthusiastic C.Doubtful D.Hopeful
16.A.Age B.Brain C.Effort D.Help
17.A.kept B.rushed C.wondered D.struck
18.A.think B.attempt C.go D.suffer
19.A.missed B.caused C.advanced D.achieved
20.A.More B.Better C.Funnier D.Happier
Ways to Help You Land That Promotion
You may think you know how to be a shining star a work. But we spoke to bosses and experts to find out what moves they truly appreciate and will help you get ahead.
Stop surfing the Internet.
It's fine to shop for your daughter's birthday present or scan your Facebook timeline. 1. “I hate seeing people do it," says a partner at an accounting firm in New Jersey. He says employees should resolve to work a full day—without traveling into cyberspace. Give your employer that full day that you're being paid for.
2.
Think about how you can stretch your role. Are there any projects outside the scope of your job that you could help with? Then actively ask to join those teams or groups. Brainstorm ideas and work with your manager to put them into practice. Your efforts won't go unnoticed.
Never be afraid to ask questions.
Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness or failure. 3.No matter how new or old your job is, it's always fine to ask about something you're unsure of rather than make a mistake.
Stop and think
In this day and age of go! go! go!, sometimes you need to take it down a level. Think tasks through and analyze them before making a decision. 4.. I Quick judgments can lead to unnecessary mistakes. Sometimes it's best to think first, then act—even if it slows things down.
Take pride in what you do.
5.. You contribute to the successes (and failures) of your colleagues, projects, and company. Be a champion of your work and organization. It's a collaborative and worthwhile effort.
A. Go above and beyond.
B. Become a problem solver.
C. But don't do it on company time.
D. Create space between your thought and your actions.
E. It's totally acceptable to admit when you need some guidance.
F. Everything that happens at your workplace has your name on it.
G. You have to deal with change in the workplace, whether you like it or not.
As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electhical generating（发电）and transmission（输送）systen for the 21th century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the suurouding community. The same is true of big solar ppants and the power lines that will be laid dowm to move electricity around.
The 19thcentury saw land grants（政府拨地）offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads ,leaving public land in between privately owned land . In much of the west ,some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped ,and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management ,with the completion or the interstate highway system ,many of the small towns which sprang up as railway stops and developed well ,have lost their lifeblood and died .
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the west .this is not an argument against building then ,we need alternative energy badly .and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now .
So trade-offs will have to be made .some scenic sport will be sacrificed .some species (物种)will be forced to move ,or will be carefully moved to special accommodations ,deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects .
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter .the 21stcentury development of the American west as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money to do a lot of good .but it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind ,just like the railroad and the highway .
The money set aside in negotiated trade –offs and the institution that control will shape the west far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines .so let’s remember the effects of the railroad and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the west .
1.what was the problem caused by the construction of the railways ?
A.small towns along the railways became abandoned .
B.some railroad stops remained .
C.land in the west was hard to manage .
D.land grants went into private hands.
2.what is the major concern in the development of alternative energy according to the last two paragraphs ?
A.the transmission of power B.the use of money and power
C.the conservation of solar energy D.the selection of an ideal place
3.what is the author ‘s attitude towards building solar plants ?
A.cautious B.approving C.doubtful D.disapproving
4.which is the best title for the passage ?
A.how the railways have affected the west
B.how solar energy could reshape the west
C.how the effects of power plants can be reduced
D.how the problems of the highways have been settled
Little George Adamson ran to the window, hoping to find a white word. But once he drew the curtains, disappointment set in. It was another year without snow on Christmas.
In the UK, where he grew up, December is not a particularly snowy month, yet shops sell cards with white Christmas illustrations and restaurants are decorated with fake snow. This has always intrigued people like Adamson. Where are people taking on these expectations if they haven't lived them? Now, as a college teacher, Adamson knows who to blame for his misplaced expectations Charles Dickens, who populated his stories with snowy Christmas holiday.
Dickens “grew up during the coldest decade England has seen and his short stories and A Christmas Carol seem to owe we much to his impressionable years” , writes anthropologist Brian Fagan in his book .It was so icy during Dickens's early years that the River Thames froze in February of 1814 . For Dickens, who was born in 1812 . Christmas must have been a bitterly cold experience. Years later, when Dickens sat down to write his novels and short stories, the author populated them with his memories of what Christmas looked like back then.
But that doesn't mean a white Christmas' has been common in the decades since. Our program asked the Met Office for more information about Christmas snow in the UK, as tracked by their more than 200 stations across the country. Most years, no more than 20 stations report snow. In the UK, the Met Office explains, it is far more likely to see snow between January and March than in December.
Then how can one man's writing change our collective understanding of a climatic phenomenon?
Dickens is credited, particularly in Britain, as the man who made Christmas fashionable again. As the Industrial Age set in and people moved around the country, traditions and customs were lost. In the first decades of the 1800s, both Sir Walter Scott and Washington Irving felt sorry for the loss of former festivities. When Dickens published A Christmas Carol in 1843, Britons were attached to the holiday season, as many Britons missed the Christmas of their youth.
1.The underlined word “intrigued" in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to .
A.bored B.interested
C.upset D.delighted
2.Adamson's expectation of a white Christmas comes from .
A.literary works B.climatic records
C.Christmas cards D.childhood experience
3.Why is Christmas white in Dickens's writing?
A.He was influenced by other writers of his time,
B.He intended to meet readers' expectation
C.The River Thames froze when he wrote the stories.
D.The snowy Christmas in his childhood impressed him .
4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A.Sir Walter Scout was not in favor of Charles Dickens
B.Christmas was not fashionable before Charles Dickens was born
C.Dickens' literary work brought out the Christmas memories of Britons
D.The Industrial Age accounted for the passion for traditions and customs
My kids sit in Gee's living room and excitedly lit old New Year decorations out of a well-loved cardboard box. She tells me that she and Tom built their decoration collection piece by piece during each year's after-New Year sale. She smiles as we leave with the box
We first met Tom and Gee in the early days of our marriage, someone had been returning our garbage cans to the garage each garbage day, and Jim and I had wondered who. Then one day we spotted him: an elderly man who lived across the street.
I baked cookies and left them on a bench outside the garbage with a thank-you note. When we got home from work that day, a typed letter had replaced the gift. The letter was from Tom and explained how he had come to walk the neighborhood on garbage day, retuning cans for people he barely knew. Back where he'd been fighting a war, his young wife, Gee, had found herself living alone. Neighbors had taken the time to handle her garbage cans so she didn't have to, and he never forgot. Now he paid it forward by doing the same for all of us. Unfortunately a few years after we'd moved in, Tom died.
These days, we're piling up boxes of our own. We're planning a move. The house that seemed so huge six years ago is filled to capacity with furniture and books and toys and, of course, people, We know it's time to go, and yet we can't seem to stick the For Sale sign up on the grassland. Gaining a third bedroom and maybe an office sometimes seems like a lousy trade for all we stand to lose.
It's not just Gee and Tom. It’s the man who lets our kids pick peaches of the tree in his front yard. It's the ladies who call Jim when their pool filter breaks and leave overflowing baskets for our kids on Easter. It's the officer who smiles and waves and makes me feel a little safer when Jim is away. It is they who teach us what it means to be a neighbor.
1.What do we know about the New Year decorations according to paragraph 1?
A.The kids don't like them.
B.Gee is willing to give them to us.
C.Gee sees them as useless now. ,
D.Gee and Tom made them by themselves.
2.How did the author get to know Tom?
A.Tom lived across the street.
B.Tom liked the cookies the author baked.
C.Tom returned the garbage cans for the author.
D.Tom shared their decorations with the author.
3.Tom decided to help his neighbors because
A.they had just moved into the community
B.he had been saved by a neighbor during the war
C.his wife had been helped by the neighbors during his absence
D.there were so many garbage cans in the neighborhood at that time
4.What can we infer from the underlined sentence?
A.Their house couldn't be sold at a high price
B.The author didn't want to leave their neighbors
C.The author's family was in bad need of a third bedroom
D.Their moving out would be a great loss for the neighbors
Pop Culture Happy Hour
From the radio and podcasting giants at NPR, Pop Culture Happy Hour is a joyous celebration of popular culture that dives into movies and TV shows, Enthusiastically presented , it's full of thoughtful and intelligent criticism. Episodes are short and stand alone, each with a singular topic. This means you can dip in and out. Above all, it's fun while being informative.
Literary Friction
Running for five years, Literary Friction is a monthly podcast hosted by Carrie Pitt and Octavia Bright. The friends —one from the US, one from the UK interview authors about their lives, work and inspirations, as well as discussing wider literary topics and giving out book recommendations. Literary Friction is a thoughtful podcast, which calls for active listening and Plitt and Bright ask intelligent and profound questions. You will discover great things to read and feel smarter after you've listened to this.
Awaye!
Aboriginal culture is in the spotlight for this Australian podcast from ABC Radio National, which is presented by smooth-voiced broadcaster Daniel Browning. While it focuses on the experience of native Australians, Awaye! also has interviews with, and documentaries about native people and their arts and culture from around the world. A thoughtful podcast, Awaye!’s interviews successfully combine the critical arts interview with in-depth discussions about tradition and history.
Audio Poem of the Day
From the Poetry Foundation, this is a daily dose of poetry delivered by some of the best-placed people to do it. Each day, classic and contemporary poems are read aloud by actors or the poets themselves and delivered to wherever you listen to podcasts. Perfect for when you may need a quiet moment, or just a distraction from modern life. The poems are simply presented, with no background music- -just the voice and the words, Try listening to one or two before bed.
1.Which podcast requires active listening of listeners?
A.Pop Culture Happy Hour B.Literary Friction
C.Awaye! D.Audio Poem of the Day
2.Which is most likely to be talked about in Daniel Browning's podcast?
A.The decline of the aboriginal languages.
B.The exhibition of native American artists
C.Puzzles of modern Australian adolescents
D.His recent interview with a UK singer.
3.What is the purpose of this text?
A.To recommend good podcasts
B.To stress the importance of literature
C.To raise fund for the podcasts
D.To invite audience to participate.
