Suppose you work in a big firm and find ...

An idea that started in Seattle’s public library has spread throughout America and beyond.The concept is simple:help to build a sense of community in a city by getting everyone to read the same book at the same time.

In addition to encouraging reading as a pursuit(追求) to be enjoyed by all,the program allows strangers to communicate by discussing the book on the bus,as well as promoting reading as an experience to be shared in families and schools.The idea came from Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl who launched the “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book” project in 1998.Her original program used author visits,study guides and book discussion groups to bring people together with a book,but the idea has since expanded to many other American cities,and even to Hong Kong.

In Chicago,the mayor appeared on television to announce the choice of To Kill a Mockingbird as the first book in the “One Book,One Chicago”program.As a result,reading clubs and neighborhood groups sprang up around the city.Across the US,stories emerged of parents and children reading to each other at night and strangers chatting away on the bus about plot and character.

The only problem came up in New York,where local readers could not decide on one book to represent the huge and diverse population.This may show that the idea works best in medium-sized cities or large towns,where a greater sense of unity can be achieved.Or it may show that New Yorkers missed the point,putting all their energy and passion into the choice of the book rather than discussion about a book itself.

Ultimately,as Nancy points out,the level of success is not measured by how many people read a book ,but by how many people are enriched by the process,or have enjoyed speaking to someone with whom they would not otherwise have shared a word.

1.What is the purpose of the project launched by Nancy?

2.Why was it difficult for New Yorkers to carry out the project?

3.According to the passage,where would the project be more easily carried out?

4.The underlined words “shared a word”in Paragraph 5 probably mean______.

5.According to Nancy,the degree of success of the project is judged by____.

Betty and Harold have been married for years.But one thing still puzzles old Harold.How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa,talking,go out to a ballgame,come back three and a half hours later,and they’re still sitting on the sofa?Talking?

What in the world,Harold wonders,do they have to talk about?

Betty shrugs.Talk?We’re friends.

Researching this matter called friendship,psychologist Lilian Rubin spent two years interviewing more than two hundred women and men.No matter what their age,their job,their sex,the results were completely clear:women have more friendships than men,and the difference in the content and the quality of those friendships is “marked and unmistakable.”

More than two-thirds of the single men Rubin interviewed could not name a best friend.Those who could were likely to name a woman.Yet three-quarters of the single women had no problem naming a best friend,and almost always it was a woman.More married men than women named their wife/husband as a best friend,most trusted person,or the one they would turn to in time of emotional distress(感情危机).“Most women,”says Rubin,“identified at least one,usually more,trusted friends to whom they could turn in a troubled moment,and they spoke openly about the importance of these relationships in their lives.”

“In general,”writes Rubin in her new book,“women’s friendships with each other rest on shared emotions and support,but men’s relationships are marked by shared activities.”For the most part,Rubin says,interactions(交往)between men are emotionally controlled-a good fit with  the social requirements of “manly behavior.”

“Even when a man is said to be a best friend,”Robin writes,“the two share little about their innermost feelings.Whereas a woman’s closest female friend might be the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage, it wasn’t unusual to hear a man say he didn’t know his friend’s marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared one night asking if he could sleep on the sofa.”

1.What old Harold cannot understand or explain is the fact that_____.

2.Rubin’s study shows that for emotional support a married woman is more likely to  turn to _____.

3.According to the text,which type of behavior is NOT expected of a man by society?

4.Which of the following statements is best supported by the last paragraph?

5.The research done by psychologist Rubin centers around_____.

I believe in miracles because I’ve seen so many of them.One day,a patient was referred to me who was one hundred and two years old.“There’s a  36  in my upper jaw,”she said.“I told my own dentist it’s nothing,but he  37  I come to see you.”

Her eighty-year-old son accompanied her.He would  38  to add something,but she stopped him.She wanted to tell everything hereslf.I found a large cancer that spread over much of the  39 of her mouth.A careful examination later  40  that it was a particularly bad sort of cancer.

During her next appointment,I explained to her the  41  of the problem.She clasped my hand in hers and said,“I know you’re worried about me,but I’m just  42 .”

I thought otherwise.After considerable  43  on my part,and kindness on her part because she wanted to  44  me,she agreed to have me refer her to a cancer surgeon.She saw him,but as I expected,  45  treatment.

About six months later she retarned to my office,still energetic and  46 .

“How are you?”I asked.

“I’m just fine,honey,”she responded  47  high spirits.“When can I get started on fixing my dentures(假牙)?”

Surprised to see her at all,I answered  48  ,“Let me take a look in your mouth and we’ll see about it.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes.The cancer that had  49  nearly the entire roof of her mouth was gone—only one small area of redness  50 .

I had read of such things happening,but had  51  seen them with my own eyes.That was my first miracle.Since then I’ve seen many others,because they keep getting  52  to see.In fact,miracles are daily events for me now.And people are a miracle, 53  through them we have a chance to know ourselves and to  54  the miracles of one another.

Since my first miracle,I’ve come to understand that the time and place for a miracle is  55 we choose to find it.

11.A.healthy         B.elegant           C.optimistic    C.humorous

The last thirty years _____ the greatest number of laws stopping our rights and progress,until today we have reached a stage ____ we have almost no rights at all.

Her son,to whom she was so_____,went abroad ten years ago.