阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Christopher Thomas, 27, was a writer by night and a teacher by day when he noticed he was always tired and was losing weight fast. Diagnosed with diabetes(糖尿病), Thomas would need to inject himself with insulin(胰岛素) three times a day for the rest of his life or risk nerve damage, blindness, and even death. And if that weren't bad enough, he had no health insurance.
After a month of feeling upset, Thomas decided he'd better find a way to fight back. He left Canton, Michigan for New York, got a job waiting tables, nicknamed himself the Diabetic Rockstar , and created diabeticrockstar.com, a free online community for diabetics and their loved ones-a place where over 1,100 people share personal stories, information, and resources.
Jason Swencki's son, Kody, was diagnosed with type diabetes at six. Father and son visit the online children's forums(论坛) together most evenings. "Kody gets so excited, writing to kids from all over," says Swencki, one of the site's volunteers. "They know what he's going through, so he doesn't feel alone." Kody is anything but alone: Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, with 24 million diagnosed cases. And more people are being diagnosed at younger ages.
These days, Thomas's main focus is his charity(慈善机构), Fight It, which provides medicines and supplies to people-225 to date-who can't afford a diabetic's huge expenses. Fight-it.org has raised about $23,000-in products and in cash. In May, Thomas will hold the first annual Diabetic Rockstar Festival in the Caribbean.
Even with a staff of 22 volunteers, Thomas often devotes up to 50 hours a week to his cause, while still doing his full-time job waiting tables. "Of the diabetes charities out there, most are putting money into finding a cure," says Bentley Gubar, one of Rockstar's original members. "But Christopher is the only person I know saying people need help now."
1. |
Which of the following is true of Christopher Thomas?
|
2. |
Diabeitcrockstar.com was created for.
|
3. |
According to the text, Kody.
|
4. |
What can we learn about Fight It?
|
5. |
The last paragraph suggests that Thomas.
|
On May 23,1989, Stefania Follini came out from a cave at Carlsbad, New Mexico. She hadn’t seen the sun for eighteen and a half weeks. Stefania was in a research program, and the scientists in the program were studying body rhythms(节奏). In this experiment Stefania had spent 130 days in a cave, 30 feet in depth.
During her time in the cave, Stefania had been completely alone except for two white mice. Her living place had been very comfortable, but there had been nothing to tell her the time. She’d had no clocks or watches, no television or radio. There had been no natural light and the temperature had always been kept at 21℃.
The results were very interesting. Stefania had been in the cave for over four months, but she thought she had been there for only two. Her body clock had changed. She hadn’t kept to a 24-hour day, she had stayed awake for 20-25 hours and then had slept for 10 hours. She had eaten fewer meals and had lost 171bs in weight as a results! She had also become rather depressed(抑郁).
How had she spent her time in the cave? As part of the experiment she’d done some physical and mental tests. She’d recorded her daily activities and the results of the tests on a computer. This computer had been specially programmed for the project. Whenever she was free, she’d played cards, read books and listened to music. She’d also learned French from tapes.
The experiment showed that our body clocks are affected by light and temperature. For example, the pattern of day and night makes us wake up and go to sleep. However, people are affected in different ways. Some people wake up naturally at 5:00 am, but others don’t start to wake up till 9:00 or 10:00 am. This affects the whole daily rhythm. As a result, the early risers, on the other hand, are tired during the day and only come to life in the afternoon or evening!
1. Stefania stayed in the cave for a long time because ______.
A. she was asked to do research on mice
B. she wanted to experience loneliness
C. she was the subject of a study
D. she needed to record her life
2. What is a cause for the change of Stefania’s body clock?
A. Eating fewer meals.
B. Having more hours of sleep.
C. Lacking physical exercise.
D. Getting no natural light.
3. Where does the text probably come from?
A. A novel. B. A news story. C. A pet magazine. D. A travel guide.
I hated dinner parties .But I decided to give them another shot because I’m in London. And my friend Mallery invited me . And because dinner parties in London are very different from those in New York, “I’m having a dinner party ” means : “I’m booking a table for 12 at a restaurant you can’t afford ang we’ll be sharing the cheque evenly , no matter what you eat.” Wors , in Manhattan there is always someone who leaves before the bill arrives .They’ll throw down cash, half of what they owe, and then people like me, who don’t drink, end up paying even more . But if try to use the same trick , the hostess will shout; “Where are you going ?” And it’s not like I can say I have somewhere to go : everyone knows I have nowhere to go.
But in London, dinner patise are in people’s homes . Not only that, the guests are an interesting mix .The last time I went to one , the guests were from France , India ,Denmark and Nigeria; it was like a gathering at the United Nations . In New York ,the mix is less striking . It’s like a gathering at Bloomingdat="le’s" , a well-known de partment store.
For New Yorkers, talking ,talking about other parts of the world means Brooklyn and Queens in New Yorkers.But at Mallery’s ,when I side that I had been to Myanmar recently, peo ple knew where it was , In New Yorkers people would think it was a usual culb.
1.What does the word “shot” in Paragraph I pro baly mean?
A. Choice B. Try C. Style D.Goal
2. What does the writer dislike most about dinner parties in New Yorkers
A. There is a stange mix of people.
B. The restaurants are expensive.
C. The bill is not fairly shared.
D. People have to pay cash
3.What does the author think of the parties in London?
A. A bit unusual B. Full of tricks C.Less costly D. More interesting
4.What is the author’s opininon of some New Yorkers from her experience?
A.Easy-going B. Self-centred. C.Generous D.Conservative
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Tt was a village in India. The people were poor . However, they were not unhappy. After all , their forefathers had lived in the same way for centuries.
Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived . They told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frog's legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, and so they wanted to buy frogs from other places.
This seemed like money for nothing . There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was catch them . Agreement was reached, and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. For the first time ,the people were able to dream of a better future. But the dream didn't last long.
The change was hardly noticed at first ,but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well. More worrying was that the children fell ill more often ,and there seemed to be more insects around lately.
The villagers decided that they couldn't just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides (杀虫剂)and medicines. Soon there was no money left .
Then the people realized what was happening.Tt was the frog .They hadn't been useless. They had been doing an important job-eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed , the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.
Now, the people are still poor .But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning.
1. |
From Paragragh 1 we learn that the villagers.
|
2. |
Why did the villagers agree to sell frogs?
|
3. |
What might be the cause of the children's sickness?
|
4. |
What can we infer from the last sentence of the text?
|
Modcm inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor-cars cover a bundred miles in little more than an hour. Aireraft cross the world a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every ycar motor-cars are produced which go even faster each new computer boasts(吹嘘)of saving preeious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves timc, but at a prick.When we lose or gain half a day in speeding aeross the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfoerable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel tlru they have been left bebind in anot ar nine zoors Again pending too long at compulers resul’s in painti ninrts and fingers. Mobile phones also to dange according to some seientists; too much uss may thesmit h bul radiation into our brains, a we do not like to think about.
Howave, what do we do with the time we have saved?Certainly not or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing, or even just one thing at a time. Pcrhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imavination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devotcd simply to the cultivation of the land or the eare of eattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives wenl on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so ,we must think of the hard tasks our ancestors faeed;:they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modem machinery has freed peope fre that primitive existcnee.
1.The new rooucts opcome more and more time-saving beeause_________.
A.our love of speed secure never-ending
B.time is limited
C.theprices are increasingly high
D.the manufacturers boast a lot
2.What does“the days”in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A.I maginary life B.Simple life in the past
C.Times of inventions D.Time for constant activity
3.What is the author’s attitude towards the modem teehnology?
A.Critical B.Objective C.Optimistic D.Negative
4.What does the pa mge mainly diseuss?
A.The present and past times B.Machinary and human beings
C.Imaginations and inventions D.Modem technology and its influenec
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Andy rode slowly on his way to school, day-dreaming about the fishing trip that his father had promised him. He was so busy dreaming about all the fish he would catch that he was unaware of everything else around him.
He rode along until a strange around drew him to the present. He came to a stop and looked curiously up to the heavens. What he saw shocked him. A huge swarm of bees filled the sky like clack cloud and the buzzing mass towards him.
With no time to waste. Andy sped off in the opposite direction, riding furiously without knowing how to escape the swarm. With a rapidly beating heart and his legs pumping furiously, he sped down the rough road. As the bees came closer, his panic increased. Andy knew that he was sensitive to bee stings(蜇). The last sting had landed him in hospital-and that was only one bee sting! He had been forced to stay in bead for two whole days. Suddenly, his father's words came to him. "When you are in a tight situation, don't panic. Use your brain and think your ways out of it. "
On a nearby hill, he could see smoke waving slowly skywards form the chimney of the Nelson family home. "Bees don't like smoke," he thought. "They couldn't get into the house."Andy raced towards the Nelson house, but the bees were gaining ground. Andy knew be could not reach the house in time. He estimated that the bees would catch up with him soon.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted a small dam used by Mr. Nelson to irrigate his vegetable garden. Off his bike and into the cool water he dived, disappearing below the surface and away from the savage insects. After holding his breath for as long as he could, Andy came up for air and noticed the bees have gone. Dragging himself out of the date, he struggled up the hilly slope and rang the doorbell. Mr Nelson took his inside and rang his mother.
"You'll really need that fishing break to help you recover,"laughed his mother with relief. "Thank goodness you didn't panic! But Andy did not hear her. He was dreaming once again of the fish he would catch tomorrow. "
1. |
Why did Andy fail to notice the swarm of bees earlier?
|
2. |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the swarm of bees in the passage?
|
3. |
How did Andy avoid the bees in the end? A. He asked Mr. Nelson in help. B. He hid himself under the water. C. He rushed into the Nelson house. D. He rode off in the oppossnte ditcction. |
4. |
Which of he tollowing can best describe Andy's escape from the becs? A. No pain no gains. B. Once bitten, twice she C. Where there is a will, there is a way. D. In time of danger, one's mind works fast. |
Kong Zi. called Confucius(551-479 B. C. ). and Socrates (469-399 B. C. )lived only a hundred years apart, and during their lifetimes there was no contact between China and Greece, but it is interesting on look at how the world that each of there great philosophers came from shaped their ideas, and how these in turn, shaped their societies.
Neither philosopher lived in times of peace, though there were more wars in Greece than in China. The Chinese states were very large and feudal, while the Greek city-states were small and urban. The urban environment in which Socrates lived allowed him to be more radical(激进的)than Confucius. Unlike Confucius, Socrates was not asked by rulers how to govern effectively. Thus Socrates was able to be more idealistic, focusing on issues like freedom and knowledge for its own sake, on the other hand, advised those in government service, and many of his students went on to government service.
Confucius suggested Rule as a principle for the conduct of "Do not do to others what you would not want others to you. "He assumed that all men were equal at birth, though some potential than others, are that it was knowledge that set men apart. Socrates focused on individual, and thought that the greatest purpose of man was to seek wisdom. He believed that some had more potential to develop their reason than others did. Like Confucius, he believed that the superior class should rule the inferior(下层的)classes.
For Socrates, the family was of no importance, and the community of little concern. For Confucius, however, the family was the centre of society, with family relations considered much more important than political relations.
Both men are respected much more today than they were in their lifetimes.
1. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the first paragraph?
|
2. |
Socates snared wih Confucius the idea that.
|
3. |
What made some people different from others according to Confucius?
|
4. |
This passage is organized in the pattem of
|
It is reported that conservation groups in North America have been arguing about the benefits and dangers of wolves. Some groups believe wolves should be killed. Other people believe wolves
Must be protected so that they will not disappear from the wilderndss(荒野)
For Killing Wolves
In Alaska,the wolf almost disappeared a few years ago,because hunters were killing hundreds
0f them forsport .However.1aws were established to protect the wolves from sportsmen and people who catch the animals for their fur.So the woIf population has greatly increased. Now there are so many wolves that they are destroying their own food supply.
A wolf naturally eats animals in the deer family. People in the wilderness also hunt deer for
food.Many of the animals have been destroyed by the very cold winters recently and by changes in the wilderness plant life.When the deer can’t find enough food,they die.
If the wolves continue to kill large numbers of deer,their prey(猎物)will disappear some
day.And the wolves will.too.So we must change the cycle of life in the wilderness to balance the
ecology.If we killed more wolves,we would save them and their prey from dying out.We’d also
save some farm animals.
In another northern state,wolves attack cows and chickens for food.Farmers want the
government to send biologists to study the problem.They believe it necessary to kill wolves in some areas and to protect them in places where there is a small woIf population.
Against Killing Wolves
If you had lived long ago,you would have heard many different stories about the dangerous
wolf.According to most stories,hungry wolves often kill people for food.Even today,the stories of the“big bad woIf'"will not disappear.
But the fact is wolves are afraid of people.and they seldom travel in areas where there is a
human smell.When wolves eat other animals,they usually kill the very young.or the sick and
injured .The strongest survive .No kind of animal would have survived through the centuries if the
weak members had lived.And has always been a law of nature
Although some people say it is good sense to kill wolves,we say it is nonsense!Researchers
have found wolves and their prey living in balance.The wolves keep the deer population from
becoming too large,and that keeps a balance in the wilderness plant life.
The real problem is that the areas where wolves can live are being used bv people.Even if
wilderness land is not used directly for human needs.the wolves can’t always find enough food .So they travel to the nearest source,which is often a farm.Then there is danger.The“big bad wolf”has arrived! And everyone knows what happens next.
1.According to the passage,some people in North America favor killing wolves for all the following reasons EXCET that_____________.
A.there are too many wolves B.they kill large numbers deer
C.they attack cows and chickens for food D.they destroy the wilderness plant life
2.Some people are against killing wolves because____________.
A.wolves help to keep the ecological balance in the wildemess
B.there is too small a wolf population in the wilderness
C.there are too many deer in the wilderness
D.wolves are afraid of people and never attack people
3.According to those against killing wolves,when wolves eat other animals,____________.
A.they never eat strong and healthy ones
B.they always go against the law of nature
C.they might help this kind of animals survive in nature
D.they disturb the ecological balance in the wilderness
4.The last sentence“And everyone knows what happens next”implies that in such cases____________.
A.farm animals will be in danger and have to be shipped away
B.woIves will kill people and people will in turn kill them
C.wolves wilI find enough food sources on famls
D.people will leave the areas where wolves can live
Pacing and Pausing
Sara tried to befriend her old friend Steve's new wife, but Betty never seemed to have anything to say. While Sara felt Betty didn't hold up her end of the conversation, Betty complained to Steve that Sara never gave her a chance to talk. The problem had to do with expectations about pacing and pausing.
Conversation is a turn-taking game. When our habits are similar, there's no problem. But if our habits are different, you may start to talk before I'm finished or fail to take your turn when I'm finished. That's what was happening with Betty and Sara.
It may not be coincidental that Betty, who expected relatively longer pauses between turns, is British, and Sara, who expected relatively shorter pauses, is American. Betty often felt interrupted by Sara. But Betty herself became an interrupter and found herself doing most of the talking when she met a visitor from Finland. And Sara had a hard time cutting in on some speakers from Latin America or Israel.
The general phenomenon, then, is that the small conversation techniques, like pacing and pausing, lead people to draw conclusions not about conversational style but about personality and abilities. These habitual differences are often the basis for dangerous stereotyping (思维定式). And these social phenomena can have very personal consequences. For example, a woman from the southwestern part of the US went to live in an eastern city to take up a job in personnel. When the Personnel Department got together for meetings, she kept searching for the right time to break in--and never found it. Although back home she was considered outgoing and confident, in Washington she was viewed as shy and retiring. When she was evaluated at the end of the year, she was told to take a training course because of her inability to speak up.
That's why slight differences in conversational style--tiny little things like microseconds of pause-can have a great effect on one's life. The result in this case was a judgment of psychological problems---even in the mind of the woman herself, who really wondered what was wrong with her and registered for assertiveness training.
1. |
What did Sara think of Betty when talking with her?
|
2. |
According to the passage, who are likely to expect the shortest pauses between turns?
|
3. |
We can learn from the passage that
|
4. |
The underlined word "assertiveness" in the last paragraph probably means
|
Open Letter to an Editor
I had an interesting conversation with a reporter recently---one who works for you. In fact, he's one of your best reporters. He wants to leave.
Your reporter gave me a copy of his resume (简历) and photocopies of six stories that he wrote for you. The headlines showed you played them proudly. With great enthusiasm, he talked about how he finds issues (问题), approaches them, and writes about them, which tells me he is one of your best. I'm sure you would hate to lose him. Surprisingly, your reporter is not unhappy. In fact, he told me he really likes his job. He has a great assignment (分工), and said you run a great paper. It would be easy for you to keep him, he said. He knows that the paper values him. He appreciates the responsibility you've given him, takes ownership of his profession, and enjoys his freedom.
So why is he looking for a way out?
He talked to me because he wants his editors to demand so much more of him. He wants to be pushed, challenged, coached to new heights.
The reporter believes that good stories spring from good questions, but his editors usually ask how long the story will be, when it will be in, where it can play, and what the budget is.
He longs for conversations with an editor who will help him turn his good ideas into great ones. He wants someone to get excited about what he's doing and to help him turn his story idea upside down and inside out, exploring the best ways to report it. He wants to be more valuable for your paper. That's what you want for him, too, isn't it?
So your reporter has set me thinking.
Our best hope in keeping our best reporters, copy editors, photographers, artists---everyone--is to work harder to make sure they get the help they are demanding to reach their potential. If we can't do it, they'll find someone who can.
1. |
What does the writer think of the reporter?
|
2. |
What does the reporter want most from his editors in their talks?
|
3. |
Who probably wrote the letter?
|
4. |
The letter aims to remind editors that they should
|
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Goldie's Secret
She turned up at the doorstep of my house in Cornwall. No way could I have sent her away. No way, not me anyway. Maybe someone had kicked her out of their car the night before. "We're moving house.'; "No space for her any more with the baby coming." "We never really wanted her, but what could we have done? She was a present." People find all sorts of excuses for abandoning an animal. And she was one of the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen.
I called her Goldie. If I had known what was going to happen I would have given
her a more creative name. She was so unsettled during those first few days. She hardly ate anything and had such an air of sadness about her. There was nothing I could do to make her happy, it seemed. Heaven knows what had happened to her at her previous owner's. But eventually at the end of the first week she calmed down. Always by my side, whether we were out on one of our long walks or sitting by the fire.
That's why it was such a shock when she pulled away from me one day when we were out for a walk. We were a long way from home, when she started barking and getting very restless. Eventually I couldn't hold her any longer and she raced off down the road towards a farmhouse in the distance as fast as she could.
By the time I reached the farm I was very tired and upset with Goldie. But when I saw her licking (舔) the four puppies (幼犬) I started to feel sympathy towards them. "We didn't know what had happened to her," said the woman at the door. "I took her for a walk one day, soon after the puppies were born, and she just disappeared." "She must have tried to come back to them and got lost," added a boy from behind her. '
I must admit I do miss Goldie, but I've got Nugget now, and she looks just like her mother. And I've learnt a good lesson: not to judge people.
1. |
How did the author feel about Goldie when Goldie came to the house?
|
2. |
In her first few days at the author's house, Goldie.
|
3. |
Goldie rushed off to a farmhouse one day because she.
|
4. |
The passage is organized in order of.
|
My father was 44 and knew he wasn't going to male it to 45. He wrote me a letter and hoped that something in it would help me for the rest of my life.
Since the day 1 was 12 and first read his letter, some of his words have lived in my beart. One it aways times out. "Right now, you are pretending to be a time-killer. But I know that one hay, you will do something great that will set you among the very best." Knowing that my dad believed in me gave me permission to believe in myself. "You will do something great." He didn't know what that would be, and neither did I, but at times in my life when I've felt proud of myself, I remember his words and wish he were here so I could ask. "Is this what you were talking about, Dad? Should I keep going?"
A long way frim 12 now, I realize hew would have been proud when I made any progress. Lately, thongn. I've come to believe he'd want me to move on to winat com next: to be nrood of and believe in, somebody else. It's time to start writing my own letters to my children. Our children look to us with the same unanswered question we had. Our kids don't hold back because they're afraid to fail. They're only afraid of failing us. They don't worry about being disappointed. Their fear-as mine was until my father's letter-is of being a disappointment.
Give your chikdren permission to succeed. They're witing for you to believe in them. I always knew way parents loved me. But trust my That elic will be more comlece, that love will be more real, and their belief in the nelces whi be greater if you write the words on their hearts; "Don't worry; you'll do something great." Not having that blessing from their parents may be the only thing holding them back.
1. |
We learn from the text that the author.
|
2. |
What does the author tell us in the 3rd passgiaph?
|
3. |
Which of the following is true of the author?
|
4. |
The main purpose of the text is to.
|
Have you ever wondered?
1.Why do airplanes take longer to fly west than east?
It can take five hours to go west-east from New York(NY) to London but seven hours to travel east-west from London to NY. The reason for the difference is an atmospheric phenomenon know as the jet(喷射) stream. The jet stream is a very high altitude wind which always blows from the west to the east across the Atlantic. The planes movement a constams air speed thus go faster in the west-east direction when the air moving with the wind than in the opposite direction.
2 What would happen if the gravity on Earth was suddenly turned off?
Supposing we could magically turn off gravity. Would buildings and other structures float away? What happened would depend on how strongly the things were attached to the Earth. The Earth is moving at quite a speed moving at over a thousand miles per hour. If you turn something round your head on a string, it goes around in a circle until you let go of the strong go of the string. Things not attacked to the Earth would fly off in a straight line . People in buildings would suddenly shoot upwards at a great speed until they hit the ceiling. Most things would fly off into space.
1. |
What information coa we get from the first passage?
|
2. |
The word"shoot"underlined in the 2nd passage probably means"".
|
3. |
It can be interred that without gravity.
|
4. |
Where can wemost probably read this text?
|
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The engineer Camillo Olivetti was 40 years old when he started the company in 1908. At his factory in lvera, he designed and produced the first Italian typewriter. Today the company's head office is still in Ivrea, near Turin, but the company is much lareer than it was in those days and there are offices all around the world.
By 1930 there was a staff of 700 and the company turned out 13,000 machines a year. Some went to customers in Italy, but Olivetti exported more typewriters to other countries.
Camilllo's son, Adriano, started working for the company in 1924 and later he became the boss. He introduecd a standard speed for the production line and he employed technology and desion specialists. The company developed new and better typewriters and the calculators(计算器).In 1959 it prodyced the ELLA computer system. This was the first mainframe(主机)computer designed and brade in Italy.
After Adriano died in 1960, the company had a period of financial problems. Other companies, especially the Janpanese, made faster progress in electronic technology than the Italian company.
In 1978, Carlo de Benedetti became the new boss. Olivetti increased its marking and service networks and made agreements with other companies to design and produce more advanced office equipment. Soon it became one, of the world's leading companies in informationg technology and communications. There are now five independent companies in the Olivetti group --- one for personal computers,one for other office equipment, one for systerms and servicse, and two for telecommunications.
1. |
From the text we learn that.
|
2. |
What was probably the direct result of Olivetti,s falling behind in electronic technology?
|
3. |
What do we know about Olivetti ?
|
4. |
The best title for the text would be.
|
In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand(木架)with a small notepad(记事本)and a hole for a pencil.
I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.
“I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these year.” I say to her, walking bank into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”
My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly well. I’ve always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days.”
Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”
This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible(看不到的)exhibits at every meal.
1.Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?
A.To leave messages. B.To list her everyday tasks.
C.To note down maths problems. D.To write down a flash of inspiration.
2. What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?
A. It has great value for the family.
B. It needs to be replaced by a better one.
C. It brings her back to her lonely childhood.
D .It should be passed on to the next generation.
3. The author feels embarrassed for_______.
A. blaming her mother wrongly.
B. giving her mother a lot of trouble.
C. not making good use of time as her mother did.
D. not making any breakthrough in her field.
4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A .The mother is successful in her career.
B. The family members like traveling.
C. The author had little time to play when young.
D. The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.
5. In the author’s mind ,her mother is_________.
A. strange in behavior. B. keen on her research.
C. fond of collecting old things. D. careless about her appearance.
试题篮
()