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My father was a foreman of a sugar-cane plantation in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. My first job was to drive the oxen that ploughed the cane fields. I would walk behind an ox, guiding him with a broomstick. For $1 a day, I worked eight hours straight, with no food breaks.
It was very tedious work, but it prepared me for life and taught me many lasting lessons. Because the plantation owners were always watching us, I had to be on time every day and work as hard as I could. I’ve never been late for any job since. I also learned about being respectful and faithful to the people you work for. More importantly, I earned my pay, it never entered my mind to say I was sick just because I didn’t want to work.
I was only six years old, but I was doing a man’s job. Our family needed every dollar we could make because my father never earned more than $18 a week. Our home was a three-room wood shack with a dirty floor and no toilet. Nothing made me prouder than bringing home money to help my mother, father, two brothers and three sisters. This gave me self-esteem(自尊心), one of the most important things a person could have.
When I was seven, I got work at a golf course near our house. My job was to stand down the fairway and spot the balls as they landed, so the golfers could find them. Losing a ball meant you were fired, so I never missed one. Some nights I would lie in bed and dream of making thousands of dollars by playing golf and being able to buy a bicycle.
The more I dreamed, the more I thought. Why not? I made my first golf club out of guava limb (番石榴树枝) and a piece of pipe. Then I hammered an empty tin can into the shape of a ball. And finally I dug two small holes in the ground and hit the ball back and forth. I practiced with the same devotion and intensity. I learned working in the field--- except now I was driving golf balls with club, not oxen with a broomstick.
1.The writer’s first job was ___________.
A. to stand down the fairway at the golf course
B. to watch over the sugar-cane plantation
C. to drive the oxen that ploughed the cane fields
D. to spot the balls as they landed so the golfers could find them
2.The underlined word “tedious” in Paragraph 2 most probably means ___________.
A. difficult B. boring C. interesting D. unusual
3.The writer learned that ________ from his first job.
A. he should work for those who he liked most
B. he should work longer than what he was expected
C. he should never fail to say hello to his owner
D. he should show respect and faith to the people he worked for
4.________ gave the writer self-esteem.
A. Having a family of eight people
B. Owning his own golf course
C. Bringing money back home to help the family
D. Helping his father with the work on the plantation
5.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. He wanted to be a successful golfer.
B. He wanted to run a golf course near his house.
C. He was satisfied with the job he got on a plantation.
D. He wanted to make money by guiding oxen with a broomstick.
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Attempts to understand the relationship between social behavior and health have their origin in history. Dubos (1969) suggested that primitive（原始的）humans were closer to the animals because they, too, relied upon their instincts to stay healthy. Yet some primitive humans recognized a cause and effect relationship between doing certain things and alleviating（减轻）symptoms of a disease or improving the condition of a wound. Since there was so much that primitive humans did not understand about the functioning of the body, magic became an integral component of the beliefs about the causes and cures of health disorders. So it is not surprising that early humans thought that illness was caused by evil spirits. Primitive medicines made from vegetables or animals were invariably used in combination with some form of ritual (礼仪) to drive harmful spirits away from a diseased body.
One of the earliest attempts in the Western world to formulate principles of health care based upon rational thought and rejection of supernatural phenomena is found in the work of the Greek physician Hippocrates. Little is known of Hippocrates who lived around 400 B.C., not even whether he actually authored the collection of books that bears his name. Nevertheless, the writings attributed to him have provided a number of principles underlying modern medical practice. One of his most famous contributions, the Hippocratic Oath, is the foundation of contemporary medical ethics (道德). Among other things, it requires a physician to swear that he or she will help the sick, keep oneself from intentional wrong-doing or harm, and keep secret all matters to keep the doctor-patient relationship.
Hippocrates also argued that medical knowledge should be derived（源自于）from an understanding of the natural sciences and the logic of cause and effect relationships. In this classic thesis, On Airs, Waters, and Places, Hippocrates pointed out that human-being is influenced by the totality of environmental factors: living habits or lifestyle, climate, geography of the land, and the quality of air and food. Interesting enough, concerns about our health and the quality of air, water, and places are still very much written in the twentieth century.
1.The topic of the first paragraph is summarized in ________.
A. the first sentence of the paragraph
B. the second sentence of the paragraph
C. the third sentence of the paragraph
D. the last sentence of the paragraph
2.Why did primitive humans rely on magic in their beliefs about the causes and cures of diseases?
A. Because magic was an inseparable part of their life.
B. Because they had little knowledge about the functioning of the body.
C. Because the diseases were caused by the evil spirits.
D. Because magic must be used in going through the rituals to drive out the evil spirits.
3.Considering Hippocrates’ background, we can see from the second paragraph that ________.
A. he was the forefather of modern medicine
B. experts are sure that the books bearing his name were not written by him
C. he had a rational mind aided by supernatural instincts
D. experts do not know much about him except when and where he lived
4.All of the following are included in the Hippocratic Oath EXCEPT ________.
A. helping patients
B. keeping oneself from harming patients
C. keeping secret all matters to maintain a good relationship with the patients
D. obeying rules for modern medicine practice
5.Which of the following best expressed the main idea of the last paragraph?
A. Doctor’s concerns remain unchanged.
B. Medicine comes from nature.
C. Environment affects health.
D. Climate determines lifestyle.
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Governments all over the world make public reports about the condition of their economies. Most countries, including the United States, have used a measure called the gross national product (国民生产总值)or GNP. It includes all goods and services produced by citizens of the country anywhere in the world.
Recently the American Commerce Department has started using a new method to measure production. It is known as the gross domestic product（国内生产总值）or GDP. It counts only goods and services that have been produced within the nation’s borders. Money earned by foreign companies operating in the United States is included in the GDP, but money earned by American companies operating in other countries is not.
Economic experts generally approve of the change. They say that the gross domestic product provides a truer measure of the economy. They also note that most other industrial countries use this method. Therefore it will be easier to study the economies of different countries. Some officials also hope the new system will help them make better economic policy decisions. It will provide them with a clearer understanding of economic activity in the U.S. . The new measure is less likely to be affected by sudden changes in foreign oil prices or in the value of the American dollar in other countries.
Economic experts believe that the change from GNP to GDP will immediately reduce the value of American production by at least 40,000 million dollars a year. But that is really a very small change in the American economy – less than 1% . The Commerce Department reports the unofficial gross domestic product once every three months. The government also continues to report GNP as it has four times a year since 1941.
1.To report the American GNP, the government should not consider goods and services produced _______.
A. by American companies at home
B. by American companies in China
C. by American companies in Singapore
D. by Japanese companies in the United States
2.To report the American GDP, the Commerce Department should count money earned ________.
A. by both American and foreign companies in America
B. by American companies within its own borders
C. by foreign companies in the United States
D. by American companies in its foreign markets
3.GDP is considered better than GNP by some economists because ________.
A. it is something new
B. it is used by most countries
C. it is easier to calculate
D. it is less likely to be affected by the foreign market
4.What will happen to the value of American economy if GDP is used to replace GNP?
A. It will be seriously affected. B. It will not be affected.
C. It will come down a little. D. It will slightly go up.
5.How often are the reports of GDP issued by the American Commerce Department?
A. once every four months B. once every three months
C. once every six months D. once a year
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Donna is 19 years old and loves animals, which is why I’m always happy to leave my dog with her when I go on holiday. Donna also helps to train hunting dogs, but recently, her boyfriend told me, she returned home from a farm in tears after being told to hit some dogs.
“She wasn’t being asked to hit them because they didn’t behave well,” he said. “She was told to punch these puppies with a closed fist simply to let them know who is the boss,” Donna refused. Good for Donna. In my view, you hit an animal for only two reasons: as a way to teach it an important lesson to protect it from danger, such as not into the road; or because you like hurting animals.
Last summer, I attended a horse race. I don’t know much about horses, but I was alarmed when I saw a horse with a huge ulcer (溃疡) on its legs. “Surely this horse won’t race?” I asked. I was very surprised that nobody in the crowd seemed concerned.
The horse began the race, but later it fell heavily. It had broken its leg. The next thing I saw was its dead body in a bag, being driven past. No one seemed to care, except those who had bet on it. I know people care for horse racing, but do they really care for horses? I doubt it.
Oh, but it’s a tradition, I hear you say. Wouldn’t the world be a boring place if we didn’t occasionally hit, shoot and chase animals? Traditions are made by man and can be unmade. It was once acceptable to kill servants when their master died, to visit the mental hospitals to laugh at the patients or to watch public execution (执行死刑).
Nor should it be forgotten that in our progress to a more civilized world, animals have played an important role: they have fed us, carried us, worked for us, rescued us, died for us and sometimes just saved us from loneliness. Surely by now they deserve our kindness. At the very least, they deserve our respect.
1.Donna was asked to hit the young dogs because ________.
A. they misbehaved
B. their owner disliked them
C. people on the farm enjoy hurting them
D. it was a way to train them to obey people
2.What does the underlined word in paragraph 2 probably mean?
A. strike B. stroke C. scold D. pump
3.What is the author’s purpose in telling the readers the story about the horse?
A. To explain the traditional horse race to readers.
B. To prove that the weak horse can’t win in the race.
C. To show that animals are treated unfairly by humans.
D. To say that people care more for horses than horse racing.
4.Which of the following is NOT true?
A. People no longer watch killing criminals in public.
B. The author cannot accept anyone who hits the animals.
C. It was a traditional practice to kill servants for their dead master.
D. The author thinks it is possible to change the traditions made by man.
5.What’s the best title of the passage?
A. No One Cares for Animals Nowadays.
B. Let’s Protect the Endangered Animals.
C. Show Animals the Respect They Deserve.
D. The Stories Between Animals and People.
