Why I’ve taken a break from holidays
It is now close to four years since I last took a holiday. This is because I have come to the conclusion, over the course of my adult life, that I am not very good at it. You might think this sounds like saying you’re not very good at drinking tea or listening to music. What could possibly be difficult about the natural act of putting your working life on hold for a couple of weeks and going somewhere warm to do nothing?
I was a model holidaymaker as a kid. However, the problems started during my twenties. A trip to the south of France was ended after just two days, mainly because I had an urge to check my e-mails. Similarly, my honeymoon was cut short by 48 hours—not because my wife and I weren’t enjoying ourselves, but because we were missing our cats.
So what is my problem? On the surface, I’m probably a bit of a homebody. And I just find the pressure of being on holiday too severe: it always feels like having a gun held to my head and being forced to have fun. Somehow, packing a list of possessions and meeting a scheduled flight has none of the excitement of suddenly deciding to take a day off and driving somewhere for the fun of it.
Thankfully, I’m not alone. This summer, most of my friends have decided not to have a break. And a recent survey (调查) proved the downside of holidays, with the results showing that nearly two thirds of people found that the calming effects of a holiday wore off within 24 hours, as stress levels returned to normal. And this year The Idler magazine published its Book of Awful Holidays. Here you will find a list of the five most ecologically-damaging vacations it’s possible to take, along with 50 painful holiday experiences voted for on The Idler website.
What interests me is what the concept of a “holiday” says about our lives. For me, the point of living is to have a life you enjoy for 52 weeks a year. The more I like my life and the better I structure it, the less I want to go away. Maybe I’m an unusual person for not liking holidays, but I just feel the time when I’m not working is too valuable to waste on them.
1.The events the author describes in the second paragraph show ________.
A. how hard he has tried to enjoy holidays
B. how badly he behaves when he is on holiday
C. his lack of enthusiasm for being on holiday
D. his fear of something bad when he is on holiday
2.What does the author think of holidays?
A. They are often well organized in order to please other people.
B. He feels embarrassed when other people are having fun but he isn’t.
C. He tends to be made responsible for too much of the organization of them.
D. They are less enjoyable than breaks that have not been planned in advance.
3.The underlined word “downside” in the fourth paragraph probably means ________.
A. absence B. damage C. disadvantage D. conflict
4.What is the author’s attitude towards “taking a holiday”?
A. Disapproving. B. Supportive. C. Neutral. D. Unconcerned.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
Why I’ve taken a break from holidays
It is now close to four years since I last took a holiday. This is because I have come to the conclusion, over the course of my adult life, that I am not very good at it. You might think this sounds like saying you’re not very good at drinking tea or listening to music. What could possibly be difficult about the natural act of putting your working life on hold for a couple of weeks and going somewhere warm to do nothing?
I was a model holidaymaker as a kid. However, the problems started during my twenties. A trip to the south of France was ended after just two days, mainly because I had an urge to check my e-mails. Similarly, my honeymoon was cut short by 48 hours—not because my wife and I weren’t enjoying ourselves, but because we were missing our cats.
So what is my problem? On the surface, I’m probably a bit of a homebody. And I just find the pressure of being on holiday too severe: it always feels like having a gun held to my head and being forced to have fun. Somehow, packing a list of possessions and meeting a scheduled flight has none of the excitement of suddenly deciding to take a day off and driving somewhere for the fun of it.
Thankfully, I’m not alone. This summer, most of my friends have decided not to have a break. And a recent survey (调查) proved the downside of holidays, with the results showing that nearly two thirds of people found that the calming effects of a holiday wore off within 24 hours, as stress levels returned to normal. And this year The Idler magazine published its Book of Awful Holidays. Here you will find a list of the five most ecologically-damaging vacations it’s possible to take, along with 50 painful holiday experiences voted for on The Idler website.
What interests me is what the concept of a “holiday” says about our lives. For me, the point of living is to have a life you enjoy for 52 weeks a year. The more I like my life and the better I structure it, the less I want to go away. Maybe I’m an unusual person for not liking holidays, but I just feel the time when I’m not working is too valuable to waste on them.
1.The events the author describes in the second paragraph show ________.
A. how hard he has tried to enjoy holidays
B. how badly he behaves when he is on holiday
C. his lack of enthusiasm for being on holiday
D. his fear of something bad when he is on holiday
2.What does the author think of holidays?
A. They are often well organized in order to please other people.
B. He feels embarrassed when other people are having fun but he isn’t.
C. He tends to be made responsible for too much of the organization of them.
D. They are less enjoyable than breaks that have not been planned in advance.
3.The underlined word “downside” in the fourth paragraph probably means ________.
A. absence B. damage C. disadvantage D. conflict
4.What is the author’s attitude towards “taking a holiday”?
A. Disapproving. B. Supportive. C. Neutral. D. Unconcerned.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Dennis Sinar, 51, a doctor from New York, is quick to explain why he took a year- long break from his job. “ I was pretty burned out after practicing medicine for 26 years. I needed a recharge.” So he took a “ gap year”, from July 2011 to June 2012, to explore things like ancient buildings, and traditional Eastern medicine, in locations including Alaska, Nepal and Romania.
“ Taking a break from work is an excellent way for adults to go into a new career or refresh an old one,” said Holly Bull, president of Princeton,N,J. “ In recent years, mid-career breaks have been gaining more interest,” she said. A report on adult gap years published this year by a market research company also desbribed the potential American market for gap years as a “ sleeping giant.”
“ A gap year is a challenge for the older individual to step out of comfort zone and take a risk. I enjoyed that side most.” Said Dr.Sinar, who kept a daily blog about his experience. His time studying Eastern medicine at his old job, although he works fewer days. “ I use those experiences to provide my patients with more care,” he added. “ And I listen better than I did before.”
Geoge Garrian, chairman of the Department of Leadership and Human Capital Mangement at New York University , certainly agrees with Dr. Sinar. He said a gap-year experience could be worthwhile for employees and companies. For employees, investing in themselves and improving skill sets is a move that will benefit throughout their career. He added that returning employees feel refreshed and have given more thought to their career. For companies, offering unpaid leaves makes good sense for attracting and keeping talented employees.
1.Dr. Sinar took a gap year because he ______.
A. had lost his old job
B. wanted to refresh after 26 years’ work
C. had a desire for travelling
D. became interested in historical research
2.The phrase “sleeping giant”( in 2nd paragragh) indicates that_____.
A. it’s too early for people to accept the concept of gap year.
B. the effect of gap year policy remains to be seen
C. it’s difficult to foresee the gap year market
D. more American people will accept the gap year policy
3.What’s George Garritan’s attitude toward the “ gap year”?
A. positive B. Doubtful C. Uninterested D. uncertain
4.What’s the passage mainly about?
A. How an adult plans a mid- career gap year
B. Why a gap year is worthwhile for adults
C. Whether a gap year is popular with adults
D. Why a gap year is challenging for individuals[
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard suffered from a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences. Her husband’s friend Richards was there, too. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when news of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of “killed.” He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and hurried to send the sad message.
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same. She wept at once, with wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. When the storm of sadness had spent itself she went away to her room alone.
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that held her body and seemed to reach into her soul.
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver (颤抖的) with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves(屋檐).
There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? It was too hard to name. But she felt it, coming out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the smells, the color that filled the air.
Now her chest rose and fell violently. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was trying very hard to beat it back with her will. When she gave up trying a little whispered word escaped her lips. She said it over and over under the breath: “free, free, free!”
She did not stop to ask if it was extreme joy that held her. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, gentle hands folded in death; the face that had never looked at her except with love, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment many years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.
There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers.
And yet she had loved him—sometimes. What did it matter! What could love count for in the face of her realization.
“Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering.
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole. “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill.”
“Go away. I am not making myself ill.”
Her fancy was running wild along those days ahead of her, all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shake that life might be long.
She arose after a long time and opened the door to her sister’s begging. She carried herself unknowingly like a goddess of Victory. She held her sister’s waist, and together they walked down the stairs.
Someone was opening the front door with a key. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, calmly carrying his suitcase and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine’s sharp cry; at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.
When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of the joy that kills.
1.What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 7 indicate?
A. Mrs. Mallard decided to fight back when her husband beat her.
B. Mrs. Mallard was trying hard to fight against her heart trouble.
C. Mrs. Mallard was struggling with the guilty feeling of happiness.
D. Mrs. Mallard was extremely sad because of her husband’s death.
2.What is “that bitter moment” in paragraph 8?
A. The time when she saw her husband’s dead body.
B. The time when she had lived with her husband.
C. The time when she had to live without her husband.
D. The time when she heard of her husband’s death.
3.What can we infer about Mr. Mallard?
A. He was killed in a railroad disaster.
B. He survived the railroad accident.
C. He was unaware of what was going on.
D. He hurried back to comfort his wife.
4.What can we learn from paragraph 14 “Her fancy …might be long”?
A. Mrs. Mallard was more afraid of her future life.
B. Mrs. Mallard missed her husband very much.
C. Mrs. Mallard always thought life was hopeful.
D. Mrs. Mallard used to think life was hopeless.
5.What really killed Mrs. Mallard?
A. The joy of seeing her husband coming back alive.
B. The shock of losing her coming freedom.
C. The fear of seeing the ghost of her husband.
D. The sadness of losing her husband suddenly.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
America's car industry will continue to break down some progress is made to close the gap.
A.since | B.unless | C.because | D.though |
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
Smoking is habit that’s closely linked to certain times and places. If you break these links, you can break the habit. The best way of doing this is to avoid the situations where you want a cigarette. If you can’t avoid them, then you will have to fight off the temptation(诱惑). Sit down and think about when and where you usually have a cigarette. For example, do you always have one after breakfast? After other meals? In breaks at work? When you are watching television? With friends in the pub? Once you stop smoking, these times and places are going to be the danger spots. So work out how you are going to deal with them.
It will also help if you can make new habits to break the old one of smoking. So plan some new activities to replace smoking-things to draw away your attention, things to do with your hands, and different ways to deal with tensions.
Some people find it helps if they cut down on cigarettes before they actually give up. It’s one way of preparing for the day you stop for good. But don’t look on cutting down as an alternative to giving up, and don’t do it for more than a couple of weeks at the very most. The danger is that you go back to smoking more than you did before.
1.What is the best way to stop smoking?
A. Avoid situations where you feel like a cigarette.
B. Avoid working with smokers in the same place.
C. Sit down and think about the situations where you moke.
D. Do not bring cigarettes with you when you take a rest.
2.The underlined part “The danger spots” are________.
A. the beginning and ending of a period when you stop smoking
B. the time period when you relax yourself
C. the times and places which link to smoking habit
D. the time when you start smoking
3.Which of the following activities can be used to stop smoking?
A. Something you are able to do in your spare time.
B. Something that might improve your skills.
C. Something you do not like to do when you are free.
D. Something that might interest you in your spare time.
4.One of the ways to stop smoking is to________.
A. give up smoking together with a group of friends
B. reduce gradually the number of cigarettes you have every day
C. increase the time that you spend on other hobbies
D. take drugs to prevent you from feeling like smoking
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Jenny is always absent from school, ______ I suppose is why she is criticized now and then.
A. which B. who C. that D. what
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Jennifer is always absent from school, ________ I suppose is why she is blamed now and then.
A.which B.who
C.that D.what
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
There is ___ new moon in the sky. It is a pleasure to get close to ___ nature outdoors now.
A. a , / B. the , a C. a , the D. the , /
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
We would like to wish all our readers a wonderful winter break. Our January magazine is now in the shops and available digitally. We’re looking forward to sharing more adventures and discoveries with you in 2014, including:
At a crossroads in the Atlantic
As the population of Ascension Island rises up to mark the 200th anniversary of British rule, Fred Pearce wonders what the future might have in store for this strange part of land.
Photostory: On the road again
A selection of images from an exhibition opening this month at the Royal Geographical Society go hand in hand with M Aurel Stein’s early 20th century photographs of the Silk Road.
Dossier: Going underground
Mark Rowe discusses the role that carbon storage can play in the global effort to reduce carbon dioxide emission (排放).
Net loss
Kit Gillet reports from the Gulf of Thailand, whose fisheries (渔场) have been almost destroyed by the commercialization of the Thai fishing industry.
And don’t forget…
…a round-up of the latest geographical and climate science news; a hot spot focus on Turkey; advice on taking photographs in Antarctica; an interview with Lucien Castaing-Taylor, professor of visual arts at Harvard; plus lots, lots more…
Buy your copy now, click here and save up to 35% or call +44 (0)1635 588 496. Geographical is also available in WHSmith and many independent news agents.
1.Who took photos of the Silk Road?
A. M Aurel Stein. B. Fred Pearce. C. Mark Rowe. D. Lucien Castaing-Taylor.
2.If you want to read something about global warming, you can read .
A. At a crossroads in the Atlantic B. Photostory: On the road again
C. Dossier: Going underground D. Net loss
3.Which of the following statements is true?
A. Ascension Island has a bright future with more population.
B. Commercialization contributes to the loss of fishery in Thai.
C. The January edition of 2014 is to come out in the winter break.
D. The topics of this magazine focus on geography and interviews.
4.The passage is written to .
A. share adventures and discoveries
B. give advice on taking photos
C. attract readers to buy the magazine
D. introduce the content of the magazine
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
We would like to wish all our readers a wonderful winter break. Our January magazine is now in the shops and available digitally. We’re looking forward to sharing more adventures and discoveries with you in 2014, including:
At a crossroads in the Atlantic
As the population of Ascension Island rises up to mark the 200th anniversary of British rule, Fred Pearce wonders what the future might have in store for this strange part of land.
Photostory: On the road again
A selection of images from an exhibition opening this month at the Royal Geographical Society go hand in hand with M Aurel Stein’s early 20th century photographs of the Silk Road.
Dossier: Going underground
Mark Rowe discusses the role that carbon storage can play in the global effort to reduce carbon dioxide emission (排放).
Net loss
Kit Gillet reports from the Gulf of Thailand, whose fisheries (渔场) have been almost destroyed by the commercialization of the Thai fishing industry.
And don’t forget…
…a round-up of the latest geographical and climate science news; a hot spot focus on Turkey; advice on taking photographs in Antarctica; an interview with Lucien Castaing-Taylor, professor of visual arts at Harvard; plus lots, lots more…
Buy your copy now, click here and save up to 35% or call +44 (0)1635 588 496. Geographical is also available in WHSmith and many independent news agents.
1. Who took photos of the Silk Road?
A. M Aurel Stein. B. Fred Pearce.
C. Mark Rowe. D. Lucien Castaing-Taylor.
2. If you want to read something about global warming, you can read .
A. At a crossroads in the Atlantic
B. Photostory: On the road again
C. Dossier: Going underground
D. Net loss
3. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Ascension Island has a bright future with more population.
B. Commercialization contributes to the loss of fishery in Thai.
C. The January edition of 2014 is to come out in the winter break.
D. The topics of this magazine focus on geography and interviews.
4. The passage is written to .
A. share adventures and discoveries
B. give advice on taking photos
C. attract readers to buy the magazine
D. introduce the content of the magazine
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析