It was a cold March day in High Point, North Carolina. The girls on the Wesleyan Academy softball team were waiting for their next turns at bat during practice, stamping their feet to stay warm. Eighth-grader Taylor Bisbee shivered (发抖) a little as she watched her teammate Paris White play. The two didn’t know each other well — Taylor had just moved to town a month or so before.
Suddenly, Paris fell to the ground. “Pairs’s eyes rolled back,” Taylor says. “She started shaking. I knew it was an emergency.”
It certainly was. Paris had suffered a sudden heart failure. Without immediate medical care, Paris would die. At first, no one moved. The girls were in shock. Then the softball coach shouted out, “Does anyone know CPR?”
CPR is a life-saving technique. To do CPR, you press on the sick person’s chest so that blood moves through the body and takes oxygen to organs. Without oxygen，the brain is damaged quickly.
Amazingly, Taylor had just taken a CPR course the day before. Still, she hesitated. She didn’t think she knew it well enough. But when no one else came forward, Taylor ran to Paris and began doing CPR. “It was scary. I knew it was the difference between life and death,” says Taylor.
Taylor’s swift action helped her teammates calm down. One girl called 911. Two more ran to get the school nurse, who brought a defibrillator, an electronic device (器械) that can shock the heart back into work. Luck stayed with them: Paris’s heartbeat returned.
“I know I was really lucky,” Paris says now. “Most people don’t survive this. My team saved my life.”
Experts say Paris is right: For a sudden heart failure, the single best chance for survival is having someone nearby step in and do CPR quickly.
Today, Paris is back on the softball team. Taylor will apply to college soon. She wants to be a nurse. “I feel more confident in my actions now,” Taylor says. “I know I can act under pressure in a scary situation.”
1.What happened to Paris on a March day?
A.She caught a bad cold.
B.She had a sudden heart problem.
C.She was knocked down by a ball.
D.She shivered terribly during practice.
2.Why does Paris say she was lucky?
A.She made a worthy friend.
B.She recovered from shock.
C.She received immediate CPR.
D.She came back on the softball team.
3.Which of the following words can best describe Taylor?
A.Enthusiastic and kind.
B.Courageous and calm.
C.Cooperative and generous.
D.Ambitious and professional.
Benjamin West, the father of American painting, showed his talent for art when he was only six years of age. But he did not know about brushes before a visitor told him he needed one. In those days, a brush was made from camel’s hair. There were no camels nearby. Benjamin decided that cat hair would work instead. He cut some fur from the family cat to make a brush.
The brush did not last long. Soon Benjamin needed more fur. Before long, the cat began to look ragged（蓬乱）. His father said that the cat must be sick. Benjamin was forced to admit what he had been doing.
The cat’s lot was about to improve. That year, one of Benjamin’s cousins, Mr. Pennington, came to visit. He was impressed with Benjamin’s drawings. When he went home, he sent Benjamin a box of paint and some brushes. He also sent six engravings（版画） by an artist. These were the first pictures and first real paint and brushes Benjamin had ever seen. In 1747, when Benjamin was nine years old, Mr. Pennington returned for another visit. He was amazed at what Benjamin had done with his gift. He asked Benjamin’s parents if he might take the boy to Philadelphia for a visit.
In the city, Mr. Pennington gave Benjamin materials for creating oil paintings. The boy began a landscape(风景) painting. William Williams, a well-known painter, came to see him work. Williams was impressed with Benjamin and gave him two classic books on painting to take home. The books were long and dull. Benjamin could read only a little, having been a poor student. But he later said,＂Those two books were my companions by day, and under my pillow at night.＂While it is likely that he understood very little of the books, they were his introduction to classical paintings. The nine-year-old boy decided then that he would be an artist.
1.What is the text mainly about?
A.Benjamin’s visit to Philadelphia.
B.Williams’ influence on Benjamin.
C.The beginning of Benjamin’s life as an artist.
D.The friendship between Benjamin and Pennington.
2.What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 3 suggest?
A.The cat would be closely watched.
B.The cat would get some medical care.
C.Benjamin would leave his home shortly.
D.Benjamin would have real brushes soon.
3.What did Pennington do to help Benjamin develop his talent?
A.He took him to see painting exhibitions.
B.He provided him with painting materials.
C.He sent him to a school in Philadelphia.
D.He taught him how to make engravings.
4.Williams’ two books helped Benjamin to _____________.
A.master the use of paints
B.appreciate landscape paintings
C.get to know other painters
D.make up his mind to be a painter
Benjamin West, the father of American painting, showed his talent for art when he was only six years of age. But he did not know about brushes before a visitor told him he needed one. In those days, a brush was made from camel’s hair. There were no camels nearby. Benjamin decided that cat hair would work instead. He cut some fur from the family cat to make a brush.
The brush did not last long. Soon Benjamin needed more fur. Before long, the cat began to look ragged（蓬乱）. His father said that the cat must be sick. Benjamin was forced to admit what he had been doing.
The cat’s lot was about to improve. That year, one of Benjamin’s cousins, Mr. Pennington, came to visit. He was impressed with Benjamin’s drawings. When he went home, he sent Benjamin a box of paint and some brushes. He also sent six engravings（版画） by an artist. These were the first pictures and first real paint and brushes Benjamin had ever seen. In 1747, when Benjamin was nine years old, Mr. Pennington returned for another visit. He was amazed at what Benjamin had done with his gift. He asked Benjamin’s parents if he might take the boy to Philadelphia for a visit.
In the city, Mr. Pennington gave Benjamin materials for creating oil paintings. The boy began a landscape(风景) painting. William Williams, a well-known painter, came to see him work. Williams was impressed with Benjamin and gave him two classic books on painting to take home. The books were long and dull. Benjamin could read only a little, having been a poor student. But he later said,＂Those two books were my companions by day, and under my pillow at night.＂While it is likely that he understood very little of the books, they were his introduction to classical paintings. The nine-year-old boy decided then that he would be an artist.
1.What is the text mainly about?
A.Benjamin’s visit to Philadelphia.
B.Williams’ influence on Benjamin.
C.The beginning of Benjamin’s life as an artist.
D.The friendship between Benjamin and Pennington.
2.What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 3 suggest?
A.The cat would be closely watched.
B.The cat would get some medical care.
C.Benjamin would leave his home shortly.
D.Benjamin would have real brushes soon.
3.What did Pennington do to help Benjamin develop his talent?
A.He took him to see painting exhibitions.
B.He provided him with painting materials.
C.He sent him to a school in Philadelphia.
D.He taught him how to make engravings.
4.Williams’ two books helped Benjamin to _____________.
A.master the use of paints
B.appreciate landscape paintings
C.get to know other painters
D.make up his mind to be a painter
While famous foreign architects are invited to lead the designs of landmark buildings in China such as the new CCTV tower and the National Center for the Performing Arts, many excellent Chinese architects are making great efforts to take the center stage.
Their efforts have been proven fruitful. Wang Shu, a 49-year-old Chinese architect, won the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize — which is often referred to as the Nobel Prize in architecture — on February 28. He is the first Chinese citizen to win this award.
Wang serves as head of the Architecture Department at the China Academy of Art (CAA). His office is located at the Xiangshan campus(校园) of the university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Many buildings on the campus are his original creations.
The style of the campus is quite different from that of most Chinese universities. Many visitors were amazed by the complex architectural space and abundant building types. The curves(曲线) of the buildings perfectly match the rise and fall of hills, forming a unique view.
Wang collected more than 7 million abandoned bricks of different ages. He asked the workers to use traditional techniques to make the bricks into walls, roofs and corridors. This creation attracted a lot of attention thanks to its mixture of modern and traditional Chinese elements(元素).
Wang’s works show a deep understanding of modern architecture and a good knowledge of traditions. Through such a balance, he had created a new type of Chinese architecture, said Tadao Ando, the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize.
Wang believes traditions should not be sealed in glass boxes at museums. "That is only evidence that traditions once existed," he said.
"Many Chinese people have a misunderstanding of traditions. They think tradition means old things from the past. In fact, tradition also refers to the things that have been developing and that are still being created, " he said.
"Today, many Chinese people are learning Western styles and theories rather than focusing on Chinese traditions. Many people tend to talk about traditions without knowing what they really are, " said Wang.
The study of traditions should be combined with practice. Otherwise, the recreation of traditions would be artificial and empty, he said.
1.Wang’s winning of the prize means that Chinese architects are ___________.
A.following the latest world trend
B.getting international recognition
C.working harder than ever before
D.relying on foreign architects
2.What impressed visitors to the CAA Xiangshan campus most?
A.Its hilly environment.
B.Its large size.
C.Its unique style.
D.Its diverse functions.
3.What made Wang’s architectural design a success?
A.The mixture of different shapes.
B.The balance of East and West.
C.The use of popular techniques.
D.The harmony of old and new.
4.What should we do about Chinese traditions according to Wang?
A.Spread them to the world. B.Preserve them at museums.
C.Teach them in universities. D.Recreate them in practice.
In 1812, the year Charles Dickens was born, there were 66 novels published in Britain. People had been writing novels for a century—most experts date the first novel to Robinson Crusoe in 1719—
but nobody wanted to do it professionally. The steam-powered printing press was still in its early stages; the literacy（识字） rate in England was under 50%. Many works of fiction appeared without the names of the authors, often with something like “By a lady.”Novels, for the most part, were looked upon as silly, immoral, or just plain bad.
In 1870, when Dickens died, the world mourned him as its first professional writer and publisher, famous and beloved, who had led an explosion in both the publication of novels and their readership and whose characters — from Oliver Twist to Tiny Tim— were held up as moral touchstones. Today Dickens’ greatness is unchallenged. Removing him from the pantheon（名人堂） of English literature would make about as much sense as the Louvre selling off the Mona Lisa.
How did Dickens get to the top? For all the feelings readers attach to stories, literature is a numbers game, and the test of time is extremely difficult to pass. Some 60,000 novels were published during the Victorian age, from 1837 to1901; today a casual reader might be able to name a half-dozen of them. It’s partly true that Dickens’ style of writing attracted audiences
from all walks of life. It’s partly that his writings rode a wave of social, political and scientific progress. But it’s also that he rewrote the culture of literature and put himself at the center. No one will ever know what mix of talent, ambition, energy and luck made Dickens such a singular writer. But as the 200th anniversary of his birth approaches, it is possible — and important for our own culture—to understand how he made himself a lasting one.
1.Which of the following best describes British novels in the 18th century?
A. They were difficult to understand.
B. They were popular among the rich.
C. They were seen as nearly worthless.
D. They were written mostly by women.
2.Dickens is compared with the Mona Lisa in the text to stress________.
A. his reputation in France
B. his interest in modern art
C. his success in publication
D. his importance in literature
3.What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?
A. To remember a great writer.
B. To introduce an English novel.
C. To encourage studies on culture.
D. To promote values of the Victorian age.
In its early history, Chicago had floods frequently, especially in the spring, making the streets so muddy that people, horses, and carts got stuck. An old joke that was popular at the time went something like this: A man is stuck up to his waist in a muddy Chicago street. Asked if he needs help, he replies, “No, thanks. I've got a good horse under me.”
The city planner decided to build an underground drainage (排水) system, but there simply wasn't enough difference between the height of the ground level and the water level. The only two options were to lower the Chicago River or raise the city.
An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced me the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt. This raised the level of the city's streets by as much as 12 feet.
This of course created a new problem: dirt practically buried the first floors of every building in Chicago. Building owners were faced with a choice: either change the first floors of their buildings into basements, and the second stories into main floors, or hoist the entire buildings to meet the new street level. Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily. But what about large, heavy structures like Tremont Hotel, which was a six-story brick building?
That's where George Pullman came in. He had developed some house-moving skills successfully. To lift a big structure like the Tremont Hotel, Pullman would place thousands of jackscrews (螺旋千斤顶) beneath the building's foundation. One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10 jackscrews. At Pullman's signal each man turned his jackscrew the same amount at the same time, thereby raising the building slowly and evenly. Astonishingly, the Tremont Hotel stay open during the entire operation, and many of its guests didn't even notice anything was happening. Some people like to say that every problem has a solution. But in Chicago's early history, every engineering solution seemed to create a new problem. Now that Chicago's waste water was draining efficiently into the Chicago River, the city's next step was to clean the polluted river.
1.The author mentions the joke to show ______.
A. horses were fairly useful in Chicago
B. Chicago's streets were extremely muddy
C. Chicago was very dangerous in the spring
D. the Chicago people were particularly humorous
2.The city planners were convinced by Ellis Chesbrough to_______.
A. get rid of the street dirt B. lower the Chicago River
C. fight against heavy floods D. build the pipes above ground
3.The underlined word “hoist”in Paragraph 4 means “_______”.
A. change B. lift
C. repair D. decorate
4.What can we conclude about the moving operation of the Tremont Hotel?
A. It went on smoothly as intended.
B. It interrupted the business of the hotel.
C. It involved Pullman turning ten jackscrews.
D. It separated the building from its foundation.
5.The passage is mainly about the early Chicago's ______.
A. popular life styles and their influences
B. environmental disasters and their causes
C. engineering problems and their solutions
D. successful businessmen and their achievements
