English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world's books and three quarters of international mail are in English.Of all languages，English has the largest vocabulary-perhaps as many as two million words.
However，let's face it:English is a crazy language.There is no egg in an eggplant，neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger.Sweet-meats are candy，while sweetbreads，which aren't sweet，are meat.
We take English for granted.But when we.explore its paradoxes（探讨它的矛盾），we find that quicksand can work slowly，boxing rings are square，public bathrooms have no baths in them.And why is it that a writer writes，but fingers don't finger，grocers don't grocers，and hammers don't ham？If the plural of tooth is teeth，shouldn't the plural of.booth be teeth？One goose，two geese-so one moose，two meese？
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same，while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites？How can overlook and oversee be opposites，while quite a lot and quite a few are alike？
How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next？
English was invented by people，not computers，and it reflects（反映）the creativity of hu-
man beings.That's why，when stars are out，they are visible（能看见的）；but when the lights are out，they are invisible.And why，when I wind up my watch，I start it；but when I wind up this essay，I end it.
1.According to the passage____.
A.sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things
B.there should be egg in an eggplant
C.pineapples are the apples on the pine tree
D.boxing rings should be round.
2.Which of the following is the correct plural?
A.Teeth. B.Geese.
C.Meese. D.Tooth.
3.Which of the following includes two items which have the similar meaning?
A.A wise man and a wise guy. B.Overlook and oversee.
C.Quite a lot and quite a few. D.Hot as hell and cold as hell.
4.The underlined words"wind up"in the last paragraph probably mean"_______".
A.blow B.roll up
C.get hurt D.finish
5.Through the many paradoxes in the English language, the writer wants to show that human beings are______.
A.clever B.crazy
C.lazy D.dull
The easy way out isn’t always easiest. I learned that lesson when I decided to treat Doug, my husband of one month, to a special meal. I glanced through my cookbook and chose a menu which included homemade bread. Knowing the bread would take time, I started on it as soon as Doug left for work. As I was not experienced in cooking, I thought if a dozen was good, two dozen would be better, so I doubled everything. As Doug loved oranges, I also opened a can of orange and poured it all into the bowl. Soon there was a sticky dough (面团) covered with ugly yellowish marks. Realizing I had been defeated, I put the dough in the rubbish bin outside so I wouldn't have to face Doug laughing at my work, I went on preparing the rest of the meal, and, when Doug got home, we sat down to Cornish chicken with rice. He tried to enjoy the meal but seemed disturbed. Twice he got up and went outside, saying he thought he heard a noise. The third time he left, I went to the windows to see what he was doing. Looking out, I saw Doug standing about three feet from the rubbish bin, holding the lid up with a stick and looking into the container. When I came out of the house, he dropped the stick and explained that there was something alive in our rubbish bin. Picking up the stick again, he held the lid up enough for me to see. I felt cold. But I stepped closer and looked harder. Without doubt it was my work. The hot sun had caused the dough to double in size and the fermenting yeast (酵母) made the surface shake and sigh as though it were breathing. I had to admit what the ‘living thing’ was and why it was there. I don’t know who was more embarrassed by the whole thing, Doug or me.
1.The writer’s purpose in writing this story is ________.
A.to tell an interesting experience
B.to show the easiest way out of a difficulty
C.to describe the trouble facing a newly married woman
D.to explain the difficulty of learning to cook from books
2.Why did the woman’s attempt at making the bread turn out to be unsuccessful?
A.The canned orange had gone bad.
B.She didn’t use the right kind of flour.
C.The cookbook was hard to understand.
D.She did not follow the directions closely.
3.Why did the woman put the dough in the rubbish bin?
A.She didn’t see the use of keeping it
B.She meant to joke with her husband.
C.She didn’t want her husband to see it.
D.She hoped it would soon dry in the sun.
4.What made the dough in the rubbish bin look frightening?
A.The rising and falling movement.
B.The strange-looking marks.
C.Its shape.
D.Its size.
5.When Doug went out the third time, the woman looked out of the window because she was ________.
A.surprised at his being interested in the bin
B.afraid that he would discover her secret
C.unhappy that he didn't enjoy the meal
D.curious to know what disturbed him
To be a good teacher, you need some of the gifts of a good actor; you must be able to hold the attention and interest of your audience; you must be a clear speaker, with a good, strong, pleasing voice which is fully under your control; and you must be able to act what you are teaching, in order to make its meaning clear.
Watch a good teacher, and you will see that he does not sit still before his class: he stands the whole time he is teaching; he walks about, using his arms, hands and fingers to help him in his explanations, and his face to express feelings. Listen to him, and you will hear the loudness, the quality and the musical note of his voice always changing according to what he is talking about.
The fact that a good teacher has some of the gifts of a good actor doesn’t mean that he will indeed be able to act well on the stage, for there are very important differences between the teacher’s work and the actor’s. The actor has to speak words which he has learnt by heart; he has to repeat exactly the same words each time he plays a certain part, even his movements and the ways in which he uses his voice are usually fixed beforehand. What he has to do is to make all these carefully learnt words and actions seem natural on the stage.
A good teacher works in quite a different way. His audience takes an active part in his play: they ask and answer questions, they obey orders, and if they don’t understand something, they say so. The teacher therefore has to meet the needs of his audience, which is his class. He cannot learn his part by heart, but must invent it as he goes along.
I have known many teachers who were fine actors in class but were unable to take part in a stage-play because they could not keep strictly to what another had written.
1.What is the text about ?
A.How to become a good teacher.
B.What a good teacher should do outside the classroom.
C.What teachers and actors could learn from each other.
D.The similarities and differences between a teacher’s work and an actor’s.
2.A good teacher ____ .
A.knows how to hold the interest of his students B.must have a good voice
C.knows how to act on the stage D.stands or sits still while teaching
3.In what way is a teacher’s work different from an actor’s ?
A.The teacher must learn everything by heart .
B.He knows how to control his voice better than an actor .
C.He has to deal with unexpected situations .
D.He has to use more facial expressions .
4.The main difference between students in class and a theatre audience is that ____.
A.students can move around in the classroom
B.students must keep silent while theatre audience needn’t
C.no memory work is needed for the students
D.the students must take part in their teachers’ plays
5.Which of the following is true?
A.Teachers have to learn by heart what they are going to stay in class.
B.A teacher cannot decide beforehand what exactly he is going to stay in class.
C.A teacher must speak louder than an actor.
D.A teacher must have a better memory than an actor.
阅读表达
A funny thing happened about a month ago when I opened the double doors of a small storage area in the back of my house where I kept my garden supplies during the long winter.
There, on top of a tower of dirt-filled pots, was a flash of green, topped with two of the most unlikely pink flowers you’ve ever seen. A quick examination showed that, in fact, this was a living, growing plant.
How was this possible? I was lost in thought. I couldn’t figure out how the plant survived under such environment. The unheated space had been sealed up (被密封) by us all winter, except for the times when we opened the doors to take the tools. It was still cold outside. Could this be one of those garden miracles I’d read about?
I wondered what helped the plant exist. I looked around and discovered something approaching an explanation. There are small glasses along the top of the double doors. And it’s possible that a ray of sun beams (照射) directly on that pot, giving it just enough light and warmth to let it to live in its own personal greenhouse.
I learned some lessons from this wonderful plant.
For one thing, I am moved by the accident of the whole thing. Had I started to put my pot six inches to the left or right of that spot, the plant might not have derived a little warmth from the sunshine. Had I pulled out the roots of the plant instead of cutting back the greenery in late fall, there would have been nothing but dirt in that pot.
But there’s something else that inspires me about this. Just how little light and warmth it took for this plant to move forward, grow and flower. It is wonderful to consider that just a drop of sunshine can awaken a day, a place and a life. When it comes to positivity, a little goes a long way.
1.How did the plant look like?(no more than 10 words)
________________________________________________________________________________________
2.In what environment did the plant grow?(no more than 10 words)
________________________________________________________________________________________
3.What helped the plant exist?(no more than 10 words)
________________________________________________________________________________________
4.What does the underlined word in Paragraph 6 mean?(1 word)
________________________________________________________________________________________
5.What do you learn from the story? Please explain in your own words.(no more than 20 words)
________________________________________________________________________________________
根据所给的首字母和中文写出所缺单词的正确形式
1.He trekked across some of the most i__________(荒凉的、不宜居的)terrain in the world.
2.You can use the hut as a base for the e_______(探索)into the mountains around.
3.Education should be a universal right not a p_______(特权).
4.There is a f______(基本的、根本的)difference between the two points of view.
5.The plan is designed to m______(鼓舞)employees to work more efficiently.
6.We can’t help s______(怀疑)the real purpose of suspending the scheduled passenger operations of all Chinese carriers to and from the USA.
7.He paused, a______(显然)lost in thought
8.The hotel is not responsible for any loss or damage to guests’ personal p______(财产).
9.Taking regular exercise is the most efficient way to build up and m______(保持)a reasonable level of physical fitness.
10.I’d like to p______(提议)a toast to the bride and groom.
One of the most popular comments I have heard about time is that we need to balance our time in order to live a more balanced life. We often feel that if we are focused and devoted, happy and positive, loving and generous, healthy and energetic, then we will be balanced people. And if the pie chart of our daily life has just the right ratios(比率) of work, life, family, health, and service, then our time will be balanced.
The problem with trying hard for balance is that most people’s understanding of this state is so different from what balance actually is! Balance is not about walking around with a bunch of positive qualities; it’s about walking on the tight rope between the poles within us and the circumstances outside of us. Strictly speaking, in order to achieve true balance, we should accept we may have some shortcomings. We should accept and love the most challenging parts of life because they offer gifts for full, real living.
Even though we measure time in a linear(线状的) way, time is and will always be asymmetrical(不均匀的). One moment is not like another, just like each day is different and each tide that rolls in is different from the previous one. This is why it is impossible to balance our time through a pie chart in a time management book. Exploring asymmetrical time allows us to move in line with an unbalanced time and thus regain our relative balance. If we stop measuring ourselves against the standards of linear time, we can accept ourselves more fully. New possibilities arise as we accept the uncertainty.
1.Why does the author think it’s difficult to achieve balance in life?
A.People don’t know the true meaning of balance.
B.People may not have enough good qualities.
C.People cannot create their pie charts of daily life.
D.People fail to realize the qualities they really need.
2.In the author’s opinion, what does a balanced life mean?
A.We should arrange our time wisely.
B.We should try to believe ourselves.
C.We should learn to improve ourselves and our lives.
D.We should accept the bad aspects of ourselves and life.
3.What does the last paragraph mainly want to tell us?
A.Uncertainty can help build up confidence.
B.It is difficult for us to accept ourselves fully.
C.There are always uncertain things occurring in life.
D.New possibilities can help us achieve balance in life.
4.What may be the best title for the text?
A.The true meaning of time
B.Seeking relative balance
C.Struggle for a balanced life
D.Popular comments about time
