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The morning had been a disaster. My tooth was aching. And I’d been in an argument with a friend. Her words still hurt: “The trouble with you is that you won’t put yourself in my place. Can’t you see things from my point of view?” I shook my head stubbornly—and felt the ache in my tooth. I’d thought I could hold out till my dentist came back from holiday, but the pain was really unbearable. I started calling the dentists in the phone book, but no one could see me immediately. Finally, at about lunchtime, I got lucky.
“If you come by right now,” the receptionist said, “the dentist will fit you in.”
I took my purse and keys and rushed to my car. But suddenly I began to doubt about the dentist. What kind of dentist would be so eager to treat someone at such short notice? Why wasn’t he as busy as the others?
In the dentist’s office, I sat down and looked around. I saw nothing but the bare walls and I became even more worried. The assistant noticed my nervousness and placed her warm hand over my ice-cold one.
When I told her my fears, she laughed and said, “Don’t worry. The dentist is very good.”
“How long do I have to wait for him?” I asked impatiently.
“Come on, he is coming. Just lie down and relax. And enjoy the artwork,” the assistant said.
“The artwork?” I was puzzled.
The chair went back. Suddenly I smiled. There was a beautiful picture, right where I could enjoy it: on the ceiling. How considerate the dentist was! At that moment, I began to understand what my friend meant by her words.
What a relief!
1.Which of the following best describes the author’s feeling that morning?
A．Cheerful. B．Nervous. C．Satisfied. D．Upset.
2.What made the author begin to doubt about the dentist?
A．The dentist’s agreeing to treat her at very short notice.
B．The dentist’s being as busy as the other dentists.
C．The surroundings of the dentist’s office.
D．The laughing assistant of the dentist.
3.Why did the author suddenly smile?
A．Because the dentist came at last.
B．Because she saw a picture on the ceiling.
C．Because she could relax in the chair.
D．Because the assistant kept comforting her.
4.What did the author learn from her experience most probably?
A．Strike while the iron is hot.
B．Have a good word for one’s friend.
C．Put oneself in other’s shoes.
D．A friend in need is a friend indeed.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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One of the greatest gifts one generation can give to other generations is the wisdom it has gained from experience. This idea has inspired the award-winning photographer Andrew Zuckerman. He interviewed and took photos of fifty over-sixty-five-year-olds all over the world. His project explores various aspects of their lives. The photos and interviews are now available on our website.
Click on the introductions to read the complete interviews.
Let us now have a culture of peace.
—Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Spain
Federico Mayor Zaragoza obtained a doctorate in pharmacy(药学) from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1958. After many years spent in politics, he became Director-General of UNESCO in 1987. In 1999, he created the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, of which he is now the president. In addition to many scientific publications, he has published four collections of poems and several books of essays.
Writing is a discovery.
—Nadine Gordlmer, South Africa
Due to a weak heart, Nadine Gordimer attended school and university briefly. She read widely and began writing at an early age. She published her first short story at the age of fifteen, and has completed a large number of works, which have been translated into forty languages. In 1991, Gordimer won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Jazz is about the only form of art today.
—Dave Brubeck, USA
Dave Brubeck studied music at the University of the Pacific and graduated in 1942. After World War Two he was encouraged to play jazz. In 1951, he recorded his first album(专辑). Brubeck’s 1959 album has become a jazz standard. He received a Grammy lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.
For more figures CLICK HERE.1.Why did Andrew Zuckerman choose the fifty elders for his project?
A．Because their wisdom deserves to be passed on.
B．Because they are physically impressive.
C．Because their accomplishments inspired him.
D．Because they have similar experiences.
2.According to the web page, Federico Mayor Zaragoza_____.
A．has won many awards for his work in politics
B．has served as the president of a university
C．has devoted all his life to the field of science
D．has made achievements in different areas
3.Who most probably said “My education has been the library and books” in the interview when reflecting on his/her experience?
A．Andrew Zuckerman.
B．Federico Mayor Zaragoza.
C．Nadine Gordimer.
D．Dave Brubeck.
4.What is the main purpose of this web page?
A．To show Zuckerman’s awards.
B．To publicize Zuckerman’s project.
C．To spread the wisdom of the three people.
D．To celebrate the achievements of the three people.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for. We do know, however, that they existed over 5,500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia. It is over 5,100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn’t become popular for a while, though. This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces weren’t going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modem road design.
In the mid-1700s, a Frenchman came up with a new design of road—a base layer (层) of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the same lime, metal hubs (the central part of a wheel) came into being, followed by the pneumatic tyre(充气轮胎) in 1846. Alloy wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads (柏油路). As wheel design took off, vehicles got faster and faster.
1.What might explain why transport wheels didn’t become popular for some time?
A．Few knew how to use transport wheels.
B．Humans carried farming tools just as well.
C．Animals were a good means of transport.
D．The existence of transport wheels was not known.
2.What do we know about road design from the passage?
A．It was easier than wheel design.
B．It improved after big changes in vehicle design.
C．It was promoted by fast-moving vehicles.
D．It provided conditions for wheel design to develop.
3.How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
A．By giving examples.
B．By making comparisons.
C．By following time order.
D．By making classifications.
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A．The beginning of road design.
B．The development of transport wheels.
C．The history of public transport.
D．The invention of fast-moving vehicles.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Not all bodies of water are so evidently alive as the Atlantic Ocean, an S-shaped body of water covering 33 million square miles. The Atlantic has, in a sense, replaced the Mediterranean as the inland sea of Western civilization. Unlike real inland seas, which seem strangely still, the Atlantic is rich in oceanic liveliness. It is perhaps not surprising that its vitality has been much written about by ancient poets.
“Storm at Sea”, a short poem written around 700, is generally regarded as one of mankind’s earliest artistic representations of the Atlantic.
When the wind is from the west
All the waves that cannot rest
To the east must thunder on
Where the bright tree of the sun
Is rooted in the ocean’s breast.
As the poem suggests, the Atlantic is never dead and dull. It is an ocean that moves, impressively and endlessly. It makes all kinds of noise—it is forever thundering, boiling, crashing, and whistling.
It is easy to imagine the Atlantic trying to draw breath—perhaps not so noticeably out in mid-ocean, but where it meets land, its waters bathing up and down a sandy beach. It mimics(模仿) nearly perfectly the steady breathing of a living creature. It is filled with symbiotic existences, too: unimaginable quantities of creatures, little and large alike, mix within its depths in a kind of oceanic harmony, giving to the waters a feeling of heartbeat, a kind of sub-ocean vitality. And it has a psychology. It has personalities: sometimes peaceful and pleasant, on rare occasions rough and wild; always it is strong and striking.
1.Unlike real inland seas, the Atlantic Ocean is______.
A．always energetic
B．lacking in liveliness
C．shaped like a square
D．favored by ancient poets
2.What is the purpose of using the poem “Storm at Sea” in the passage?
A．To describe the movement of the waves.
B．To show the strength of the storm.
C．To represent the power of the ocean.
D．To prove the vastness of the sea.
3.What does the underlined word “symbiotic” mean?
A．Living together.
B．Growing fast.
C．Moving harmoniously.
D．Breathing peacefully.
4.In the last paragraph, the Atlantic is compared to______.
A．a beautiful and poetic place
B．a flesh and blood person
C．a wonderful world
D．a lovely animal
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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It is widely known that any English conversation begins with The Weather. Such a fixation with the weather finds expression in Dr. Johnson’s famous comment that “When two English meet, their first talk is of weather.” Though Johnson’s observation is as accurate now as it was over two hundred years ago, most commentators fail to come up with a convincing explanation for this English weather-speak.
Bill Bryson, for example, concludes that, as the English weather is not at all exciting, the obsession with it can hardly be understood. He argues that “To an outsider, the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it.” Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.
Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive. Bryson is wrong, he says, because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena. “The interest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty.” According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it attracts the English as well as the outsider.
Bryson and Paxman stand for common misconceptions about the weather-speak among the English. Both commentators, somehow, are missing the point. The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all. English weather-speak is a system of signs, which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows conversations starting with weather-speak are not requests for weather data. Rather, they are routine greetings, conversation starters or the blank “fillers”. In other words, English weather-speak is a means of social bonding.
1.The author mentions Dr. Johnson’s comment to show that______.
A．most commentators agree with Dr. Johnson
B．Dr. Johnson is famous for his weather observation
C．the comment was accurate two hundred years ago
D．English conversations usually start with the weather
2.What does the underlined word “obsession” most probably refer to?
A．A social trend.
B．An emotional state.
C．A historical concept.
D．An unknown phenomenon.
3.According to the passage, Jeremy Paxman believes that______.
A．Bill Bryson has little knowledge of the weather
B．there is nothing special about the English weather
C．the English weather attracts people to the British Isles
D．English people talk about the weather for its uncertainty
4.What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?
A．To explain what English weather-speak is about.
B．To analyse misconceptions about the English weather.
C．To find fault with both Bill Bryson and Jeremy Paxman.
D．To convince people that the English weather is changeable.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
