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Sometimes the best advice doesn’t come from a book, a microphone, from behind a desk in Washington or even from the people who are the leaders in their fields. Sometimes the best life lessons are found deep in the roots of where we came from. My father passed away years ago, but I always remember the lessons he taught me. Three of them particularly shape my perspective day after day.
The first one is that little things make big things happen. To the best of my memory, when I was young, we needed to build a new shed. Those were the days when stores like Home Depot and Lowes didn’t exist. Brand-new timber (木料) was expensive, so folks often reused the materials that others in the community didn’t need. That summer, Dad and I used the boards from an old abandoned barn. We pulled them down one by one, drew the nails out and took off the tin and straightened it in order to reuse it. We got our supplies back to our yard and got to work. I don’t know how much of a help I really was, but I chose to stay beside Dad the entire period, working along with him.
The sun was hot that day, and sweat formed and ran down our faces. I stood there and handed him the nails one by one, which were hammered into that shed. Dad made me feel proud of my work. Even though I just handed him the nails, he repeatedly emphasized how we built the new shed “together”. He taught me that when you’re willing to do hard work, even in little things, big things come together.
The second one is that we should honor our promises. As a young man, my father always carried a pocket-sized Bible in his chest pocket. Shortly before the invasion of Normandy in 1944, he prayed for God’s protection and promised God that if he made it home, he would make sure his family attended church every Sunday. Well, he made it home and he kept that promise. I cannot remember a Sunday when Dad did not take my mother, my siblings and me to church — even when we were away on vacation. I now have my Dad’s pocket Bible. It is one of my most treasured possessions, and it serves as a constant reminder of my dad’s service to his country. However, it also serves as a visual representation of my dad’s firm determination to keep his promises.
Today, I place great value on my family and my faith, undoubtedly because of my dad’s example. This lesson of promise has been introduced into all areas of my life.
The third one is that listening is a way to acquire wisdom. My dad and I kept ourselves busy doing a lot of things together. During the nights of late summer, after dinner, the whole family would gather on our small porch to talk as the sun went down. Sometimes an aunt or uncle would drop by, and at other times my grandparents would be there. They would talk about the neighborhood news, the goings-on in modern Western society and politics — mostly ordinary things, but it was good to sit there listening and to be together. Moreover, sitting there on the porch as dusk faded into night, I learned the value of listening and observing. Sometimes taking a moment to pause gives us the best perspective and sometimes we find the best answers simply by listening.
Life in America becomes more complex. However, I like to think back to the simple lessons I learned from my father. They were the building blocks of my character and the values that still guide me today. Perhaps someone who has influence on your life taught you life lessons that helped form your character. I’m convinced that our nation could gain a lot by applying these lessons today. If we did, I think we would be reminded that the reason why our nation has become great is not merely that we have had wise leaders or well-spoken elected officials. Our nation has become great because of those ordinary Americans like my father, who have pride in their work, place great value on honesty, character and commitments, and pass those lessons on to their children and grandchildren. And that is the reason why we are still great today.
1.While building the new shed with his father, the author ________________________________________________________.
A. tried his best to help his father
B. realized how hard his father worked
C. managed to get in touch with some folks
D. was curious about everything
2.Why does the author keep his father’s pocket Bible?
A. He has great faith in religion.
B. It reminds him to keep his promises.
C. He takes it to church every Sunday.
D. It reminds him of his father’s survival in the match.
3.What does the author intend to tell us in the passage?
A. The importance of keeping family values.
B. Three lessons he learned from his father.
C. The happy time he spent with his father.
D. The factors making a country rich and strong.
4.It can be inferred from the passage that ________________________________________________________.
A. wise leaders determine a country’s status
B. the author dislikes the well-spoken officials
C. ordinary people have an effect on a country’s future
D. the author’s father was greater than anyone else in his heart
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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It’s rare that the protagonist in a Chinese movie wins the audience’s hearts with an emotionally uplifting message, rather than by showing off his or her good looks. But Wolf Warrior II is putting China in the global spotlight. It’s also the first film to taste success both in terms of box office earnings and promoting Chinese values.
Kung fu artist Wu Jing both starred in and directed the action movie. Since its release on July 27, it’s earned an unimaginable 4.5 billion yuan, setting a record for domestic movies at the box office. The success of the film has surpassed the anticipations of all, including the production team.
The film focuses on a rescue operation in Africa, led by former special forces soldier Leng Feng-played by Wu. Leng helps Chinese workers and local Africans flee a war-torn and plague-ravaged country. Wolf Warrior II links art to reality, and reminds people of the massive evacuation of Chinese people from Libya when civil war broke out there in 2011, and from Yemen in 2015, as well as the challenges the Ebola virus created in West Africa from 2013 to 2016. The film describes how the Chinese government aims to protect overseas Chinese citizens. Just as the message at the end of the film reads: “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China. When you encounter danger in a foreign land, do not give up! Please remember, at your back stands a strong motherland.”
Thanks to China’s increasing participation in global affairs, now could be considered the right moment to introduce a modern Chinese hero.
“Holding up a banner of peace, friendship and responsibility, Wolf Warrior II should be seen as a brave effort to promote Chinese values around the world,” columnist Zhu Ping wrote in China Daily.
“It’s time Chinese filmmakers produced films that tell good stories and carry the right spirit. Let us assume Wolf Warrior II has started that trend.”
1.We can learn from passage that .
A. leading characters in Chinese movies are mostly popular for their appearance
B. it is hard for a protagonist in Chinese movies to win the audience’s hearts
C. Wolf Warrior Ⅱ is the first Chinese movie to spread Chinese values
D. the production team is not surprised at the big box-office success
2.The film is popular with the audience mostly because .
A. Kung fu artist Wu Jing both starred in and directed it
B. it attempts to promote Chinese values around the world
C. it is backed up and funded by the Chinese government
D. it shows that China is playing an active role in global affairs
3.The underlined word in para.3 can be replaced by .
A. worry about B. hang out
C. fall into D. come across
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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Recently, we have already shown that climate change has led to a dramatic increase in storm surge risk in New York City, making devastating events like Hurricane Sandy more likely.
What can we say about the role of climate change in the unprecedented disaster that is unfolding in Houston with Hurricane Harvey? There are certain climate change-related factors that we can, with great confidence, say worsened the flooding.
Sea Level rise attributable to climate change-some of which is due to coastal subsidence(下沉) caused by human disturbance such as oil drilling-is more than half a foot(15cm) over the past few decades. That means the storm surge was half a foot higher than it would have been just decades ago, meaning far more flooding and destruction.
In addition to that, sea surface temperatures in the region have risen about 0.5℃(close to 1F) over the past few decades from roughly 30℃(86F) to 30.5℃(87F), which contributed to the very warm sea surface temperatures(30.5-31℃, or 87-88F). There is a simple thermodynamic(热力学的) relationship known as the Clausius-Clapeyron equation that tells us there is a roughly 3% increase in average atmospheric moisture content for each 0.5℃ of warming. Sea surface temperatures in the area where Harvey intensified were 0.5-1℃ warmer than current-day average temperatures, which translates to 1-1.5℃ warmer than “average” temperatures a few decades ago. That means 3-5% more moisture(水分) in the atmosphere. That large amount of moisture creates the potential for much greater rainfalls and greater flooding. The combination of coastal flooding and heavy rainfall is responsible for the devastating flooding that Houston is experiencing.
Not only are the surface waters of the Gulf of Mexico unusually warm right now, but there is a deep layer of warm water that Harvey was able to feed upon when it intensified at near record pace as it neared the coast. Human-caused warming is penetrating down into the ocean. It’s creating deeper layers of warm water in the Gulf and elsewhere. Harvey was almost certainly more intense than it would have been in the absence of human-caused warming, which means stronger winds, more wind damage and a larger storm surge.
Finally, the more tenuous but potentially relevant climate factors: part of what has made Harvey such a devastating(毁灭性的) storm is the way it has stalled near the coast. It continues to strike Houston and surrounding regions with a seemingly endless flood, which will likely top out at nearly 4ft(1.22m) of rainfall over a days-long period before it is done. The stalling is due to very weak prevailing winds, which are failing to steer the storm off to sea, allowing it to spin around and wobble back and forth. This pattern, in turn, is associated with a greatly expanded subtropical high pressure system over much of the US at the moment, with the jet stream pushed well to the north. This pattern of subtropical expansion is predicted in model simulations of human-caused climate change. More tenuous(微弱的), but possibly relevant still, is the fact that very persistent, nearly “stationary” summer weather patterns of this sort, where weather anomalies(both high-pressure dry hot regions and low-pressure stormy/rainy regions) stay locked in place for many days at a time, appears to be favoured by human-caused climate change.
In conclusion, while we cannot say climate change “caused” Hurricane Harvey, what we can say is that it exacerbated several characteristics of the storm in a way that greatly increased the risk of damage and loss of life. Climate change worsened the impact of Hurricane Harvey.
1.What’s the main purpose of writing the passage?
A. To offer tips on climate change.
B. To advocate paying more attention to current climate change urgently.
C. To share experiences on avoiding climate change.
D. To criticize human-caused climate change.
2.The underlined word “intensified” in Paragraph 4 probably means ________.
A. worsened B. caused
C. favoured D. increased
3.What is the best title for the passage?
A. Climate change made Hurricane Harvey more deadly
B. Sea level rise sea and surface temperatures changed Hurricane Harvey
C. Hurricane Harvey and its characteristics
D. The climate change-related factors and human-caused warming
4.Which of the following shows the development of ideas in this passage?
I: Introduction CP: Central point P: Point Sp: Sub-point(次要点) C: Conclusion
A.
B. 
C.
D. 
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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To err is human. To blame the other guy is even more human.
Common sense is not all that common.
Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?
These three popular sentences are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature .To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don’t want to accept the responsibility for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do .The original quote about human nature went like this: “ To err is human, to forgive, divine(神圣的).”.This saying mirrors an ideal people should be forgiving of others’ mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite –find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a making of great maturity.
Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Common sense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine．Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything. People say that in a large company, “the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”
And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people, get the idea that it’s okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary(直接推论)to that: if good excuse is “good” even if it isn’t honest, then where is the place of the truth?
1.According to the passage, which of following seems the most human?
A. To search for truth．
B. To achieve one’s ideal
C. To criticize others for one’s own error.
D. To make fun of others’ mistakes．
2.Which of the following is NOT based on common sense?
A. A man tries to take charge of everything in a large company.
B. A student goes out with an umbrella in stormy weather.
C. A company’s next move follows a good plan．
D. A lawyer acts on fine judgments．
3.What is the author’s opinion about a good excuse?
A. Bitter truth is better than a good excuse.
B. Inventing a good excuse needs creative ideas.
C. A good excuse is as rewarding as honesty.
D. Making a good excuse is sometimes a better policy.
4.What would be the best title for his passage?
A. To Blame or to Forgive B. A Mirror of Human Nature
C. A Mark of Maturity D. Truth or Excuse
难度: 中等查看答案及解析