One day, I saw a kid walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked as if he was carrying all of his books. I had quite a weekend 1. (plan), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw 2. bunch of kids running towards him. They ran at him, 3. (knock) all his books out of his arms and he landed in the dirt. His 4. (glass) went flying. He looked up and I saw the terrible 5. (sad) in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his things. Later, we talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. “Thankfully, I 6. (save). My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.” Not until that moment did I realize its 7. (deep). Never underestimate the power of your actions. 8. a small gesture, you can change a person’s life. For 9. (good) or for worse, God puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way. As you can see, friends are angels 10. lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.
When young, I loved going on trail runs. It was my favorite way to _____tress. So. when I was back in my hometown after a _____first year of my Ph. D. program, I thought a trail run was just what I needed. But instead of helping me relax, the run did just the _____.
After I moved to the city for college, where my runs were on flat concrete paths instead of ____dirt trails, I used a GPS watch. When I went on trail runs again in the country, it constantly reminded me of the fact that I wasn't _____up with my usual pace. I ___ my watch, thinking that would allow me to enjoy my _____and find the peace I expected, ____I found myself underperforming. "Why can't I let go and just enjoy myself?" I wondered. But after some _____, I realized why I was _____— both on trail runs and in graduate school.
Going into my Ph. D. , I had thought that my solid undergraduate track record would set me up for _____success. To my surprise, I was wrong. I _____confidence in my research abilities which I thought stopped me performing well and I constantly felt my progress was too slow. Other students' self-confidence and their excellent results made me feel _____. One day, I _____broke down in tears in my adviser's office.
Then came my visit home. I was having _____because I hadn't properly _____my expectations to the differences between _____run and a trail run.
A Ph. D. is like a trail run. Sometimes you can run fast. Sometimes you might find yourself climbing up a steep, winding trail at a _____pace. And that's OK. Barriers are _____, and success looks and feels different on a challenging trail than it does on a smooth, flat path. Sometimes it's best to take a deep breath and do your best to _____the challenge.
1.A.accept B.expose C.escape D.rescue
2.A.magical B.normal C.fast D.tough
3.A.opposite B.same C.odd D.extreme
4.A.safe B.similar C.winding D.transparent
5.A.coming B.keeping C.breaking D.linking
6.A.cut off B.put off C.set off D.turned off
7.A.investments B.surroundings C.investigations D.associations
8.A.but B.so C.as D.because
9.A.motivation B.imagination C.reflection D.determination
10.A.talking B.running C.struggling D.trembling
11.A.current B.instant C.temporary D.general
12.A.ended B.enriched C.missed D.lacked
13.A.indifferent B.insecure C.incredible D.inconsiderate
14.A.ultimately B.initially C.hopefully D.permanently
15.A.battle B.complaint C.fun D.trouble
16.A.adjusted B.devoted C.owed D.contributed
17.A.a country B.a native C.an urban D.a foreign
18.A.rabbit's B.worm's C.snake's D.snail's
19.A.unreal B.unavoidable C.unlimited D.unacceptable
20.A.embrace B.border C.prepare D.recognize
The Art of Slow Reading
If you are reading this article in print, chances are that you will only get through half of what I have written. And if you are reading this online, you may not even finish a fifth. 1. They suggest that many of us no longer have the concentration to read articles through to their conclusion.
So are we getting stupider? Actually, our online habits are damaging the mental power we need to process and understand textual information. Round-the-clock news makes us read from one article to the next without necessarily engaging fully with any of the content. Our reading is frequently interrupted by the noise of the latest email and we are now absorbing short bursts of words on Twitter and Facebook more regularly than longer texts. 2. But we are gradually forgetting how to sit back, think carefully, and relate all the facts to each other.
3. A desperate bunch of academics want us to take our time while reading, and re-reading. They ask us to switch off our computers every so often and rediscover both the joy of personal engagement with printed texts, and the ability to process them fully. What's to be done then? Most slow readers realize that total rejection of the web is extremely unrealistic. They feel that getaway from technology for a while is the answer. 4. Personally, I'm not sure whether I could ever go offline for long. Even while writing this article, I am switching constantly between sites, skimming too often, absorbing too little. Internet reading has become too rooted in my daily life for me to change. I read essays and articles not in hard copy but as PDFs. I suspect that many readers are in a similar position. 5. You can download a computer application called Freedom, which allows you to read in peace by cutting off your Internet connection. Or if you want to avoid being disturbed by the Internet, you could always download offline reader Instapaper for your iPhone. If you're still reading my article, that is slow reading.
A.The Internet is probably part of the problem.
B.Now some campaigns are advocating slow reading.
C.These are the two findings from the recent research projects.
D.But if you just occasionally want to read more slowly, help is at hand.
E.Some of them have suggested turning their computers off for one day a week.
F.Slow reading can help connect a reader to neighborhood and become popular.
G.Because of the Internet, we have become very good at collecting information.
Attitudes toward new technologies often fall along generational lines. That is, generally, younger people tend to outnumber older people in face of a technological shift.
It is not always the case, though. When you look at attitudes toward driverless cars, there doesn't seem to be a clear generational divide. The public overall disagree on whether they'd like to use a driverless car. In a study last year, of all people surveyed, 48 percent said they wanted to ride in one, while 50 percent did not.
The fact that attitudes toward self-driving cars appear to be so steady across generations suggests how transformative the shift to driverless cars could be. Not everyone wants a driverless car now——and no one can get one yet ——but among those who are open to them, every age group is similarly engaged.
When it comes to driverless cars, differences in attitude are obvious based on factors not related to age. College graduates, for example, are particularly interested in driverless cars compared with those who have less education: 59 percent of college graduates said they would like to use a driverless car compared with 38 percent of those with a high-school diploma or less.
Where a person lives matters, too. More people who lived in cities and suburbs said they wanted to try driverless car than those who lived in rural areas.
While there's reason to believe that interest in self-driving cars is going up, a person's age will have little to do with how self-driving cars can become mainstream. Once driverless cars are actually available for sale, the early adopters will be the people who can afford to buy them.
1.What usually happens when a new technology appears?
A.It benefits society greatly.
B.The old are not happy with it.
C.People of different ages react differently.
D.It will separate the old from the young.
2.What does the author say about the driverless car?
A.It makes people's life more convenient.
B.It can lead to fewer road accidents.
C.It may start a revolution in the car industry.
D.It does not seem to create a generational divide.
3.What is likely to affect a person's attitude toward the driverless car?
A.The field of his special interest.
B.The location of his living place.
C.The amount of his driving training.
D.The length of his driving experience.
4.Who are the most potential customers of the driverless car?
A.The seniors. B.The wealthy.
C.The educated. D.The car lovers.
Can you be hit by a bullet and keep on fighting, or escape from a bomb explosion? Let's take a look at some actions in big-budget movies in summer vacation.
Survive nearby explosions
The scene: A bomb explodes nearby but the hero escapes unharmed.
The science: Powerful explosion produces quickly expanding gas travelling faster than the speed of sound. Although this big wave lasts just a few milliseconds, it can cause hidden injuries whose effects may not become obvious for several days.
No one, except the most extreme terrorists, plans to be near a bomb, so mostly, survival comes down to good fortune — the size and type of the bomb and your distance from it.
Is it possible? Stand too close and no one is going to walk away from an explosion
unharmed. Not even Iron Man.
Fight on after being shot
The scene: The bad man is shot several times, but just keeps on going.
The science: Travelling at a speed of well over 250 meters per second, bullets are full of energy, much of which is transferred to the unlucky goal. High-speed, high-calibre（口径）bullets are likely to floor a man. Smaller, slower bullets can pass straight through a body, and because skin and tissue are elastic（弹性的），the hole may close up.
Whether or not you fall or escape also depends on where you are hit. A shot to the spine（脊柱）or head will stop you in your track. But if the bullet misses vital organs, you may be able to keep going, for a while at least.
Is it possible? If your vital organs don't take a hit, you may be able to keep going, but not for long. If the bullet does floor you, blood loss finally will.
Fall from a building
The scene: A hero falls from a high building and survives.
The science: It is not the fall that kills you, but the sudden stop at the end. In the movies, falls are commonly slowed by trees, power lines, roofs and the like. Dividing one big fall into many smaller ones slows your fall, reducing the force of impact and increasing the chance of survival.
For the same reason, what you land on is also important.
How you hit the ground also influences whether or not you survive.
Is it possible? Possible but unlikely. Survival is somewhat relative. You can have a good chance to survive, but that doesn't mean you can jump up and run around. Brain injury, broken bones and chest wound are common.
1.What does the underlined part mean in the last paragraph?
A.One might die, but his relatives will live well.
B.It is hard to say one is dead or still alive only by judging from his breath.
C.A man is still breathing, but some organs can not function well as a normal person.
D.Whether an actor can survive or not largely depends on his professional performance.
2.This article probably comes from a .
A.story book B.science fiction
C.movie review D.movie magazine
3.What is the best title for the text?
A.The Science of Summer Movies B.The Background of Summer Movies
C.How to Take the Three Shots D.How to Survive the Three Scenes
4.What can be inferred from the text?
A.As long as one stands far enough away from a bomb he can be safe and unharmed.
B.The hole caused by a bullet in one's body can be treated as nothing has happened at all.
C.Either a hit on spine or a huge blood loss will immediately send you down on the floor.
D.One might be only slightly injured if he falls from a 5-storey building and lands on a soft mud.
Anyone with a passing interest in their health will be able to rattle__off a few of the major vitamins, and possibly take an educated guess at what they do. Vitamin C, found in oranges and other fruit and vegetables, is important for wound repair. And the much－talked－about ‘sunshine’ Vitamin D, produced by the skin in response to UV light, is essential for strong bones.
But Vitamin P? It might well have you scratching your head. And that's not surprising: the term was first coined in the 1930s to describe a small group of compounds that provide pigment(天然色素) to plants, and were believed to have health benefits. Fast－forward almost a century and these compounds are now better known as flavonoids.
Today, scientists have identified between 4，000 and 6，000 different kinds and we now know they are responsible for many of the flavors and smells of fruit and vegetables and also that they protect them from invaders such as pests and bacteria.
They are equally important nutrients for the body, helping maintain bones and teeth, and for the production of the protein collagen(胶原), which provides structure to blood vessels, muscles and skin.
They are also said to help the body deal with some of the key drivers of illness, including oxidation(氧化), a natural process by which the body's cells age and can become damaged and defective(有缺陷的). That means they could help to protect against chronic diseases including cancer and heart disease.
1.Which of the following best explains “rattle off” underlined in Paragraph 1?
A.Quickly say. B.Quickly pass.
C.Quickly find. D.Quickly take.
2.What do we know about Vitamin P?
A.We would scratch our head if we took it.
B.It was made into a coin in the 1930s.
C.People didn't think it beneficial in the past.
D.It refers to the compounds also called flavonoids.
3.How many functions of Vitamin P for humans are mentioned?
A.Four. B.Three.
C.Two. D.One.
4.How does Vitamin P help slow the aging process?
A.By dealing with oxidation.
B.By maintaining bones.
C.By strengthening muscle.
D.By protecting against chronic diseases.
