Smiling can infect everyone and light up our ...

Smiling can infect everyone and light up our day. Well, it was at the market at 5 pm — the worst time of day to shop. I had to pick up a few essentials after work: cream for coffee, eggs for breakfast and Advil for my headache.

I’d been rushing all day doing jobs for people. I did not want to be shopping, to say the least. But I told myself it was my last stop before going home to put my feet up.

So I scored (得到) a parking place, grabbed a bag from the trunk and found a shopping cart.

The market wasn’t as crowded as I had expected. I grabbed a package of linguini (意粉) and some pesto.

That’s when I saw her. She was sitting in a shopping cart. She looked to be maybe 9 months old. Short blond curls, blue eyes. A white lace dress and shiny black shoes.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Then I did what I always do with children: I gave her my best smile. I may have looked a bit mad, but it came from my heart.

That is a habit I formed long ago when I became a mother. It started with my first child, in that unforgettable, life-changing moment.

At times my smile would fade to a look of fear or worry, but it never left my face for long. It always came back, even through tears.

I’ve learned that everyone needs a smile sometimes, young and old, friends and strangers, even strangers at the market in a rush to get home.

She took her time deciding just what to make of my smile. But finally, she lit up.

I laughed and waved goodbye. And she blew me a kiss.

That put a smile on my face and I got a smile in return from every shopper I passed.

I was still smiling when I got home and realized I’d forgotten to get Advil. Luckily, I didn’t need it. My headache was gone.

Somehow, in that simple exchange of smiles, this weary (使人厌烦的) old world became a better place. Want to change the world? Try smiling. Someone will smile back at you. I guarantee it.

If you’re lucky, maybe they’ll even blow you a kiss and make your headache go away.

1.What can we know about the author from the first four paragraphs?

A.She couldn’t wait to go shopping.

B.She didn’t know what to buy at the market.

C.She wasn’t satisfied with the goods in the market.

D.She didn’t want to go to the market at that time.

2.What does the underlined word “That” refer to?

A.Shopping in the afternoon. B.Suffering from a headache.

C.Smiling at kids she meets. D.Observing different people.

3.What happened to the author after meeting the girl?

A.She thought about her childhood. B.She got blank looks from others.

C.She began to feel better. D.She wanted to kiss the girl.

4.What is the main purpose of this article?

A.To show how to find joy in shopping. B.To share her thoughts on smiling in a story.

C.To advise on how to cure headaches. D.To show how to communicate with children.

高二英语阅读选择中等难度题查看答案及解析

Try this: For an entire day, forget about the clock. Eat when you’re hungry and sleep when you’re tired. What do you think will happen?

You may be surprised to find that your day is much like most other days. You’ll probably get hungry when you normally eat and tired when you normally sleep. Even though you don’t know what time it is, your body does. These patterns of daily life are called circadian rhythms(生理节奏), and they are more than just habits. Inside our bodies are several clocklike systems that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle. Throughout the day and night, our inner clocks direct changes in temperature, body chemicals, hunger, sleepiness and more.

Everyone’s rhythms are different, which is why you might like to stay up late while your sister always wants to go to bed early. But on the whole, everyone is programmed to feel tired at night and energetic during the day. Learning about our body clocks may help scientists understand why problems arise when we act out of step with our circadian rhythms. For example, traveling across time zones can make people wake up in the middle of the night. Regularly staying up late can make kids do worse in tests.

“There is a growing sense that when we eat and when we sleep are important parts of how healthy we are,” says Steven Shea, director of the Sleep Disorders Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

One way to learn about how our body clocks tick is to mess them up and see what happens. That’s what neurologist(神经病学家)Frank Scheer and his workmates did in a recent study. Staying up night after night, their studies suggest, could make kids extra hungry and more likely to gain weight. And regularly sleeping too little, Scheer says, may be one cause of the recent increase in childhood obesity.

1.What will happen if you forget about the clock according to the passage?

A.You will feel upset.

B.You will behave normally.

C.Your body will not know what time it is.

D.You will probably get hungry more easily.

2.Mike feels energetic at 12 midnight while Tom feels sleepy. What advice would be given by the writer?

A.Both should see a doctor. B.Tom should see a doctor.

C.Both should take it easy. D.Mike should have a watch.

3.How do Frank Scheer and his workmates study body clocks?

A.By seeing what happens when they are messed up.

B.By asking questions and collecting answers.

C.By studying people traveling across time zones.

D.By programming people with man-made clocks.

4.What will the writer most probably talk about next?

A.Other examples of what people will do when their body clocks go wrong.

B.Some effective medicines that can keep people from putting on weight.

C.The importance of eating healthy food.

D.What circadian rhythms are and how they work.

高二英语阅读选择困难题查看答案及解析

It's easy to get defeated completely by something negative in your daily life. Give these apps a try if you want to be more positive instead of being negative in your daily life.

Shine

Shine is a text messaging service based on the idea that sometimes you need some external phrases to guide your internal positive thinking.

Visit the website, and you'll have the ability to sign up to receive a daily text message ——all you need to provide is a first name and a phone number. Then you'll receive one message per day with inspirational quotes from successful people from Monday through Friday.

Kwippy

In many cases, statements that come from other people can be more powerful than ones you make to yourself. That's where Kwippy comes in.

The app Kwippy has a positive, lively community focused on fun while keeping negativity out. It is a new kind of social media platform that will send you random challenges throughout the day, prompting you to take a photo of something in your nearby environment.

ThinkUp

If you're feeling confident and good about your place in life, download the app, come up with some positive statements about yourself and record them for future generations. If you're feeling less creative or don't know what to say, don,t worry 一 the app also has a list of shared positive statements that you can choose from.

Smiling Mind

Smiling Mind, a nonprofit organization, was founded by and is currently operated by psychologists and educators. Everything there is supported by scientific evidence. The app is free to use but you can make a donation if you want to continue supporting their efforts, displaying friendly and thoughtful acts to others.

In the app, you'll find different choices, which can help you remove negative thoughts and focus on the positivity of the present moments.

1.Which app makes people feel encouraged regularly?

A.Shine. B.Kwippy.

C.ThinkUp. D.Smiling Mind.

2.Who is Kwippy suitable for?

A.Those who need to face a big life challenge.

B.Those who look for a friendly neighborhood.

C.Those who long for a great sense of belonging.

D.Those who want to live an enjoyable social life.

3.What is the purpose of the article?

A.To show the power of some advanced apps.

B.To introduce some apps for avoiding people feeling down.

C.To compare the advantages of some apps.

D.To list the wide usage of apps in our daily life.

高二英语阅读选择中等难度题查看答案及解析

Have you ever wondered why some days all you want to do is snack?

Under normal circumstances, we feel hungry when we have burnt up the food we have eaten as energy and our blood sugar and insulin (胰岛素)levels begin to drop. Ghrelin, a hormone connected to appetite, then communicates this to the brain, which is how we feel the need to eat. But some sorts of things can influence this process.

According to a 2011 study by researchers at Columbia University in the US, those who are lack of sleep eat almost 300 calories a day more than those who get enough sleep. This is because levels of the hormone ghrelin, which tells the brain we need to eat, increase when we don’t get enough sleep.The Columbia researchers noted that the women who didn’t get enough sleep took in more fat rising by around 30g on sleep-lack days－four times as much as the average increase for men.

The bright blue light emitted by devices such as smartphones and tablets may give an unwelcome encouragement to your appetite. Research this year found that your appetite continued to increase when you are exposed to the light. It also changed people’s metabolism(新陈代谢), as blood tests showed that the blue-light subjects had higher insulin and glucose levels. One possible explanation is that bright blue light at night confuses our body clock, which has a role in controlling when we feel the need to eat.

1.What really causes people to feel hungry?

A.Our brain. B.A hormone. C.Our appetite. D.Blood sugar.

2.Which of the following is true?

A.Women take in fat easily.

B.Lack of sleep may lead to hunger.

C.The body clock does harm to hunger.

D.Blue-light subjects control appetite.

3.What does the underlined word “emitted” mean in Paragraph 4?

A.Broken out. B.Picked up. C.Taken place. D.Given off.

4.What is the purpose of the passage?

A.To analyse a food study.

B.To report the situation of health.

C.To tell the factors influencing hunger.

D.To introduce the importance of snack.

高二英语阅读选择中等难度题查看答案及解析

My husband and I had tried for many years to have children, but it just never happened. So we applied to be foster parents(养父母). We decided we should start with an older child for a number of reasons. Since we both worked, child care might be a problem. Our dog Corby might be a bit too energetic for a young child.1.We sat back and prepared to wait for the few months they thought it might take to get a school-age child to pass——which was why we were at a loss when the agency called us within weeks, just before Christmas, and asked if we would take Kaleb, a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, for a few months.

This wasn't what we had discussed a few weeks before.2.It was such short notice. We had made holiday plans and most of all, the boy was toddler(初学走路的孩子)! We went back and forth, and in the end, we just couldn't say no.

The day was set for Kaleb to arrive. We went outside to greet our little guest. But before we could even reach the child, I heard a noise from behind me.3.I gasped(因惊异吸气). Corby would frighten Kaleb——probably even knock him down.

Corby reached Kaleb before either of us could grab her. She hounded up to the boy and immediately began licking his face with joy.4.. His face light up with excitement, he cried, "Can this be my dog?

Kaleb came to stay those few months.5.Yes, we’adopted Kaleb. He became our son, and Corby…well, she couldn’t have been happier. She turned out to be Kaleb’s dog, after all.

A.Privately, I was full of doubts.

B.There were so many difficulties,

C.Eight and a half years later, he is still with us.

D.Turning, I saw Corby heading straight for the little boy.

E.In our hurry, we must not have closed the door completely.

F.And honestly,we were a little nervous about taking on a baby.

G.In response, this little boy threw his arms around the dog’s neck and turned toward us.

高二英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

Is it necessary to learn when we are 50s, 60s or even 70s?Most people consider when they get retired, they are supposed to be completely laidback, do something fun, or hang around.1. It’s particularly important to the elderly.

Through learning, we know how to think, how to memorize, how to ask questions and even how to interact with others. According to a study, while we are learning, “the brain creates neural(神经)pathways” that make us smarter. 2. The more we learn, the mote new  neural pathways develop in our brains.

When it comes to learning, it doesn’t mean we must load ourselves with lots of knowledge. What we need to do is just learn something we like day in and day out. 3. Everyone learns from bottom to up. If we have an interest to learn, that desire will naturally push us to move forward.

As we feel worn out from learning, don’t be discouraged.4. An old saying goes, “Birds of a feather fly together.” As long as we have partners to learn all together, our learning excitement will come alive again. On the contrary, if we don’t learn, and choose to distance ourselves from other, we might be getting dumb, and slow; eventually, we lose energy, and life passion. Instead of being bored, dumb, why don’t we keep learning?

5. More importantly, learning explores our life horizon, helps us build up our confidence; gradually, it leads us to a way of finding a sense of value and ach.

A.It’s never too old to learn.

B.Don’t worry if we cannot learn well.

C.You should set a high learning target.

D.Learning makes us understand how potential we are.

E.Look for a partner who has the same common interest as you do.

F.In other words, our brains are active as we learn something new.

G.However, the truth is that learning makes us energetic, and self-fulfilled.

高二英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

The other day on a cold night, I left my wife and drove from Harrisburg to Lewisburg, a distance of about 100 miles. It was rather late. Several times I got stuck behind a slow-moving truck on a narrow road with a solid white line on my left, and I became increasingly impatient.

At one point along an open road, I came to a crossing with a traffic light. I was alone on the road by now, but as I drove near the light, it turned red and I made a stop. I looked left, right and behind me. Nothing. Not a car, no suggestion of car lamps, but there I sat, waiting for the light to change, the only human being for at least a mile in any direction.

I started wondering why I refused to run the light. I was not afraid of being caught, because there was clearly no policeman around, and there certainly would have been no danger in going through it.

Much later that night, the question of why I’d stopped for that light came back to me. I think I stopped because it’s part of a contract we all have with each other. It’s not only the law, but it’s an agreement we have, and we trust each other to honor it: we don’t go through red lights.

Trust is our first inclination. Doubting others does not seem to be natural to us. The whole construction of our society depends on mutual trust, not distrust. We do what we say we’ll do; we show up when we say we’ll show up; and we pay when we say we’ll pay. We trust each other in these matters, and we’re angry or disappointed with the person or organization that breaks the trust we have in them.

I am so proud of myself for stopping for the red light that night.

1.How does the author feel about the truck driver?

A.Pleased. B.Satisfied. C.Sorry. D.Annoyed.

2.What can we infer about the author?

A.He hates driving at night. B.He desired to cross the red light that night.

C.He approves of obeying traffic rules by himself. D.He is easy when suffering the traffic jam.

3.What is the meaning of the underlined word “inclination” in paragraph 5?

A.Tendency. B.Faith.

C.Adjustment. D.Guidance.

4.What’s the message the author tries to convey?

A.Politeness matters. B.Hold belief in human nature.

C.People should be patient and helpful. D.There’s a need to improve traffic rules.

高二英语阅读选择中等难度题查看答案及解析

We experience different forms of the Sun’s energy every day. We can see its light and feel its warmth. The Sun is the major source of energy for our planet. It causes the evaporation (蒸发) of water from the oceans and lakes. Sunlight also provides the energy used by green plants to make their own food. These green plants then provide food for all organisms(生物) on the Earth.

Much of the energy that comes from the Sun never reaches the Earth’s surface. It is either reflected or absorbed by the gases in the upper atmosphere. Of the energy that reaches the lower atmosphere,30% is reflected by clouds or the Earth’s surface. The remaining 70% warms the surface of the planet, causes water to evaporate, and provides energy for the water cycle and weather. Only a tiny part, approximately 0.023%, is actually used by green plants to produce food.

Many gases found in the atmosphere actually reflect heat energy escaping from the Earth’s surface back to the Earth. These gases act like the glass of a greenhouse in that they allow energy from the Sun to enter but prevent energy from leaving. They are therefore called greenhouse gases.

When sunlight strikes an object, some of the energy is absorbed and some is reflected. The amount reflected depends on the surface. For example, you’ve probably noticed how bright snow is when sunlight falls on it. Snow reflects most of the energy from the Sun, so it contributes to the low temperatures of winter. Dark-coloured surfaces, such as dark soil or forest, absorb more energy and help warm the surrounding air.

1.According to the passage, the root( 根本的) cause for weather changes on the Earth is ________.

A．the atmosphere surrounding the Earth

B．water from oceans and lakes

C．energy from the Sun

D．greenhouse gases in the sky

2.Only a small part of the Sun’s energy reaches the Earth’s surface because most of it is ________.

A．absorbed by the clouds in the lower atmosphere

B．reflected by the gases in the upper atmosphere

C．lost in the upper and lower atmosphere

D．used to evaporate water from the oceans and lakes

3.We learn from the passage that ________.

A．all living things on the Earth depend on the Sun for their food

B．a forest looks dark in winter because it absorbs solar energy

C．only 0.023% of the energy from the Sun is made use of on the Earth

D．greenhouse gases allow heat energy to escape from the Earth’s surface

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

I’m about to begin my fifth season of tree planting. Each year, around this time, I have mixed feelings about the job. Never have I loved a job so much while hating it with equal measure. I mainly plant trees on the coast of British Columbia and get paid about 35 cents a tree. The job can be profitable. It gives planters the opportunity to lead a roaming (漫游的) lifestyle, with a temporary duty to spend a few months filling their bank accounts. But there are many challenges.

In the early hours of the morning, we join our teams and travel along rough roads deep into the woodlands. When stepping out of the trucks, often in the pouring rain, we’re faced with a steep chunk of land that’s just been logged (砍伐). I step into the rain and fill my bags with hundreds of tiny trees. Experienced tree-planters treat this more like a sport than a job, thus lighting up the mood.

Once our bags are full, we immediately charge up that hillside before feeling reluctant to go. We jump from log to log, and if they roll out from under our feet, we grab onto whatever within reach and swing around like monkeys. We push through stinging bushes. We stumble and fall constantly, always pushing ourselves to go faster among groups of insects that we often breathe in.

While tree planting, I come across someone else, a self I thought I knew. It is a person I try to come to peace with on those hillsides, during those strange days of isolation (隔绝) and deep thinking.

Tree planting is a lab of self-examination and growth, where you face the worst and the best in your nature and push yourself as hard as you can. And, a new version of yourself awaits at the end of the experience.

1.Which of the following is true about the writer’s job?

A.It is a bittersweet job to some degree.

B.He works 12 months a year.

C.He can make a fortune with this job.

D.He is stuck in a place all year round.

2.What challenges will they meet when planting trees?

A.They feel reluctant to collect tiny trees.

B.Workers’ mood needs to be lighted up on the truck.

C.They will have to help each other when planting trees.

D.The conditions are really tough on the hillside.

3.In what way has the writer benefited most by planting trees?

A.He has smoothed away many difficulties.

B.He has discovered a whole new himself.

C.He has developed tree-planting skills.

D.He has gained lifelong friendship.

高二英语阅读选择中等难度题查看答案及解析

Self-esteem (自尊) plays a role in almost everything you do. 1. If you want to improve your self-esteem, here are some useful tips.

★Try to stop having negative thoughts about yourself. If you’re used to focusing on your shortcomings, start thinking about positive aspects of yourself. 2.

★View mistakes as learning opportunities. Accept that you will make mistakes because everyone does. 3. Remind yourself that a person’s talents are constantly developing, and everyone does well in different things.

★4. If you realize that you’re unhappy with something that you can change, then start today. If it’s something you can’t change (like your height), then start to work toward loving yourself the way you are.

★Make a contribution. Help a classmate who’s having trouble, offer to clean up your neighborhood or volunteer your time in some other way. 5.

★Have fun. Enjoy spending time with the people you care about and doing the things you love. Relax and have a good time.

It takes some work to develop good self-esteem, but once you do it’s a skill you’ll have for life.

A.Mistakes are part of learning.

B.Recognize what you can change and what you can’t.

C.Each day, write down the things that make you happy.

D.Low self-esteem is a negative evaluation (评价) of oneself.

E.That your help is valued can do wonders to improve self-esteem.

F.Experience is the great thing that enables you to recognize a mistake.

G.People with high self-esteem do better in school and find it easier to make friends.

高二英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析