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After a lot of weightlifting and 25 exhausting days training, a 52-year-old woman recently became the first female “gripman” on San Francisco’s historic cable cars.
Fannie Barnes passed her written test and completed a final run under the watchful eye of a supervisor, Municipal Railway spokesman Alan Siegel said.
Deep calluses(茧) are already forming at the base of her fingers and there is a hole in her glove. Two other women quit after a single day with injured muscles. “Now they’re going to have to change the word from gripman to grip person, just because of me,” Barnes said earlier, “I’m so excited.”
After almost a year of serious workouts, Barns can pull more than 61 kilos, only 23 kilos less than her body weight. And she’ll need the muscle, for this is no modern, push-button technology. Every time a car starts up again after making a stop, the gripman must haul back on a lever controlling a device that grips the cable, which runs continuously at 14 kilometers per hour. If the grip slips, so does the car. A second person operates the brakes.
In addition to having to throw her weight around on the job, she’s got to throw out some attitude to men who were hard to convince. The city employs 76 men in the job.
“A lot of men said mean things to me and didn’t want to help train me. But I would like to thank the guys who were against me because they gave me even more inspiration to do it.” she said.
Not all the men were against her. Many of the male colleagues yelled out support as she did her training runs. One of her biggest tests was drizzly December morning. She first went down the Hyde Street Hill, considered the most dangerous incline on the cable car routes. “I had to have the will and I had to believe I could do it,” she said. “It was scary, but as I started going down full grip and felt that I was in control, I knew I was on my way,” Barnes already is a pioneer of sorts. She started working as a cable car conductor six years ago, collecting fares and assisting on the back brake. She is one of only three women to have that job. But she said she always wanted the job up front on the car. (400)
1.What is unusual about Fannie Barnes getting a job as a gripman?
A. She is the oldest one to work as a grpman.
B. She is the first women to work as a gripman.
C. She is the fattest women to work as a gripman.
D. She is the most suitable one to work as a gripman.
2.What did the 52-year-old woman do when she first began working on the city’s cable car?
A. As a gripman. B. As a conductor. C. As a brakeman. D. As a supervisor.
3.It can be inferred from the passage that Fannie Barnes is ________.
A. strong and easy-going B. strong-willed and self-confident
C. popular and humorous D. considerate and quick-tempered
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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--I’m exhausted. I ______ on a design day and night.
--You’d better have several days off after finishing it. Otherwise you might break down.
A. work B. worked
C. had worked D. have been working
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
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I met one of my students the other day. After several years, she changed a lot and looked different from ____ she used to be.
A. that B. whom C. what D. who
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
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I met one of my students the other day. After several years, she changed a lot and looked different from ____ she used to be.
A. that B. whom C. what D. who
高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
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After a day’s hard work, I went back home ________.
A. exhausting B. exhausted C. being exhausted D. having exhausted
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
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After a day’s hard work, I went back home ________.
A．exhausting
B．exhausted
C．being exhausted
D．having exhausted
高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
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After a day’s work, she felt exhausted. She____ herself on the bed, unwilling to do housework.
A．drew
B．flew
C．threw
D．blew
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
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On the day after Thanskgiving in the US, or Black Friday, lots of stores offer special discounts to mark the beginning of holiday shopping season. In China, a similar day falls on Nov. 11 when millions of Chinese shoppers go to Tmall.com and Taobao.com, two e-commerce websites operated by Alibaba.
The 11.11 Shopping Festival, as the event is now called, is also known in China as Singles Day. The shopping festival first started in 2009 and Alibaba said it chose the date because it was easy to remember. Last year, Tmall and Taobao together produced 19.1 billion in sales on that day, according to Alibaba. This year’s shopping festival kicked off with an even stronger start—sales hit 100 million yuan 55 seconds after midnight and reached 35 billion at the end of the day.
The shopping spree(狂欢) drew the attention of China’s leaders, as Premier Li Keqiang recently praised Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma, for creating a day for consumption. China is trying to lead the country’s
economy to a slower, more sustainable（可持续的）growth model based on domestic (国内的) consumption instead of investment and exports. Online shopping is no doubt a growth point that will release spending potential. China had 564 million regular Internet users by the end of last year. It has surpassed the US to become the world’s largest e-commerce market, with its online sales over 1 trillion US dollars (6 trillion yuan) by 2020.“The real-time nature of online consumption attracts millions of people to spend money and enjoy life. E-commerce opens a new channel for China to encourage domestic demand,” Liu Yin, vice-president of the China International Electronic Commerce Center said. More importantly, it promotes employment and the logistics (物流) industry with its sales model of “online purchasing plus express delivery”, he added. Convenience, choice and low prices have increased online shopping, but there are still some problems with the one-day shopping spree.
Some online shops, driven by the huge profits, took this opportunity to play price tricks. They raised prices to twice those of the originals in the early October and then offered discounts on Nov 11. Many consumers, driven by the advantage they could take, just went along for the ride. “They spend lots of time online to check what to buy and are happy to get what they don’t really need at a lower price,” wrote Jia Ge, an Internet analyst, on his Sina weibo.
1.In the US, a holiday shopping season refers to _________.
A. a spree in a holiday like Thanksgiving
B. one of the four seasons in a year like spring
C. a shopping spree when stores offer special discounts
D. a holiday when people can relax themselves by shopping
2. In this year’s 11.11 Shopping Festival, Tmall and Taobao produced ______in all.
A. 19.1 billion yuan B. 100 million yuan
C. 35.1 billion yuan D. 35 billion yuan
3. What Liu Yin said is mainly about _______.
A. the advantages of e-commerce
B. the advantages of express delivery
C. the development of online shopping
D. the development of logistic industry
4.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _______.
A. most online shops played price tricks on consumers to make huge profits
B. driven by the huge profits, many consumers bought what they didn’t really need
C. some prices of the goods were raised at first and sold at the original price on Nov. 11
D. many consumers were cheated by the online shops and bought unnecessary goods
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Cheektowage Central Middle School can be a lot of fun. It has game nights and student dances, after-school activities, and sports teams. However, students at the school must earn the right to join in the fun. If they don’t do their homework, participate in class, and behave at all times, they’re banned(禁止) from participating in after-school activities.
Students and parents say the threat of being excluded(排除在外) appears to be working. Kenny T. of Reno, Nev., says it taught him that actions have consequences: “I learned that I need to be balanced in both my work and athletics to be rewarded for working hard.” Parent Sondra LaMacchia told The New York Times that her 14-year-old daughter is learning responsibility at Cheektowaga Central. The teen used to perform poorly in her studies, but then she was banned from a school dance. The message got through loud and clear. “It’s nobody’s fault but hers,” LaMacchia said.
Although exclusion may help teach responsibility, some psychologists say it can also be threatening, especially for students who often cause, or may cause, trouble in school. They might become more aggressive and antisocial, which is exactly what schools like Cheektowaga Central want to prevent.
Should schools exclude students from activities to get them to behave? I believe teens need school activities and that inclusion can be the answer. For some troubled students, activities can be their motivation to stay in school. “Activities such as sports may be the only thing keeping certain students in school,” says Duace Wood, a teacher at Mohonasen High School in Rotterdam, N.Y. Getting involved in after-class activities keeps troublesome students in class. Even if they don’t do as well as their classmates, they are still learning. The more time they spend at school, the less time they have to even think about starting trouble. Teams also provide support and role models, and they help build the confidence that students need to succeed. If students who don’t behave are banned from activities, they might give up on school altogether.
1.Paragraph 2 is developed by _______.
A．analyzing causes B．giving examples
C．examining differences D．following the time order
2.Parent Sondra LaMacchia supports the policy of exclusion because _______.
A．it provides role models
B．her daughter is aggressive
C．her daughter hates taking exercise
D． it helps teach responsibility
3.In Paragraph 3 and 4, the author mainly talks about________.
A．students who are good at sports
B．students who often cause trouble
C．teens who do well in their studies
D．teens who always behave themselves
4.What is the author’s attitude towards the school’s policy of exclusion?
A． Negative B．Sympathetic C．Satisfied D．Supportive
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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I _________ returning to the train station and spending the rest of the day in the waiting room. Life is no fun without a companion to share it with.
A. ended up B. took up C. led to D. stick to
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
economy to a slower, more sustainable（可持续的）growth model based on domestic (国内的) consumption instead of investment and exports. Online shopping is no doubt a growth point that will release spending potential. China had 564 million regular Internet users by the end of last year. It has surpassed the US to become the world’s largest e-commerce market, with its online sales over 1 trillion US dollars (6 trillion yuan) by 2020.