If you see a group of people dancing and singing on the street or in the railway station, you don't need to feel surprised. They are a flash mob(暴民). Who are they? Are they mobs? Don't be confused by their name. Actually, a flash mob is a group of people who gather suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a brief period of time, and then quickly disappear.
They are usually organized with the help of the Internet or other digital communications networks. The messages may be sent to friends, who send to more people. At a predetermined time, they gather and perform some activities such as exchanging books, coming together to look at the sky, waving their hands and yelling something at the top of their voice for 30 seconds. Then, they quickly disappear before the police can arrive. Using mobile phones, the flash mob can change its place if the first one has been cancelled for any reason.
Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine, organized the first flash mob in Manhattan in May 2003 and the first successful flash mob gathered on June 3,2003. Wasik claimed that he created the flash mob as a social experiment designed to laugh at fashion seekers and stress the cultural atmosphere of wanting to be an insider or part of “the next big thing”．
Flash mob gatherings can sometimes shock people. Such an activity might seem amusing and magical, but it also might frighten people who are not aware of what is taking place. Undoubtedly, flash mob can serve as good political tools and have great potential, such as using to advertise a product.
The flash mob is now becoming more and more popular. People use it to do many things. Flash mobs give people from all walks of life an opportunity to come together to create a memory.
1.What is NOT the feature of the flash mob?
A．It can get together quickly.
B．It can change its place freely.
C．It can do activities suddenly.
D．It can injure people seriously.
2.How do flash mobs inform one another?
①By using the Internet.②By writing letters.③By yelling.④By waving hands.⑤By using mobile phones.
⑥By holding a meeting.
A．③④ B．①⑤ C．②⑥ D．⑤⑥
3.Why did Bill Wasik create the flash mob?
A．To advertise some products.
B．To help people make friends.
C．To laugh at fashion seekers.
D．To create some memories.
4.What can we learn about the flash mob from the passage?
A．Bill Wasik organized the first successful flash mob in May, 2003.
B．People are encouraged to take a more active part in an activity.
C．Flash mobs tend to do something illegal for a short time.
D．Flash mob gathering can frighten all the people present.
It's such a happylooking library, painted yellow, decorated with palmtree stickers and sheltered from the Florida sun by its own roof. About the size of a microwave oven, it's pedestrianfriendly, too, waiting for book lovers next to a sidewalk in Palm Beach Country Estates, along the northern boundary of Palm Beach Gardens.
It's a library built with love.
A year ago, shortly after Janey Henriksen saw a Brian Williams report about the Little Free Library organization, a Wisconsinbased nonprofit that aims to promote literacy and build a sense of community in a neighborhood by making books freely available, she announced to her family of four, “That's what we're going to do for our spring break！”
Son Austin, now a 10thgrader, didn't see the point of building a library that resembles a mailbox. But Janey insisted, and husband Peter unwillingly got to work. The 51yearold owner of a ship supply company modified a small wooden house that he'd built years earlier for daughter Abbie's toy horses, and made a door of glass.
After adding the library's final touches(装点), the family hung a signboard on the front, instructing users to “take a book, return a book，” and making the Henriksen library, now one of several hundred like it nationwide and among more than 2,500 in the world, the only Little Free Library in Palm Beach County.
They stocked it with 20 or so books they'd already read, a mix of science fiction, reference titles, novels and kids' favorites. “I told them, keep in mind that you might not see it again，” said Janey, a stayathome mom.
Since then, the collection keeps replenishing(补充) itself, thanks to ongoing donations from borrowers. The library now gets an average of five visits a day.
The project's best payoff, says Peter, are the thankyou notes left behind. “We had no idea in the beginning that it would be so popular.”
1.In what way is the library “pedestrianfriendly”？
A．It owns a yellow roof.
B．It stands near a sidewalk.
C．It protects book lovers from the sun.
D．It uses palmtree stickers as decorations.
2.Janey got the idea to build a library from ________.
A．a visit to Brian Williams
B．a spring break with her family
C．a book sent by one of her neighbors
D．a report on a Wisconsinbased organization
3.The library was built ________.
A．by a ship supply company
B．on the basis of toy horses
C．like a mailbox
D．with glass
4.What can we infer from the signboard?
A．It was made by a user of the library.
B．It marked a final touch to the library.
C．It aimed at making the library last long.
D．It indicated the library was a family property.
5.The passage tells us that the users ________.
A．donate books to the library
B．get paid to collect books for the library
C．receive thankyou notes for using the library
D．visit the library over 5 times on average daily
Annie, a neighbor's daughter, was away for her first semester at college this school year. She is a very sweet girl but just a bit shy. When her birthday came around, I found out she was feeling a bit ___.
Her family is quite poor and ____ are tight, so there wouldn't be any birthday visitors. I wanted to ____ her a card and maybe a small gift to ____ her day a bit. I got her school ____ from her mom and planned to pick something up. Then I got a(n) ____！
I ____ perhaps a bit more birthday cheer was needed here. I bought some balloons, birthday hats, and ____ novelties(新颖小巧而价廉的物品) at a store. I took a small ____ and asked three other people in my area at work to ____ “Happy Birthday” and send some birthday wishes to her. It was such fun making the recording! Other people ____ what we were doing and ___ their voices, so it really sounded like we had a party going on!
Then I bought her a small present and a card as ____ planned. The real fun was packing them to be sent. I ____ everything so it was like opening a mini birthday party! At the last minute I added a pack of cupcakes and a box of birthday candles ___ sending them off. I got a call a few days later. Annie said her roommates and one of their neighbors in the ____ got together with her and held a party for her the moment they arrived. She sounded so ____ and I was so glad that she had some friends to ____ her special day with.
It was such an easy and ____ thing to do. The people who helped me make the tape still laugh and talk about it. And Annie ____ me it was the most fun birthday she would remember!
1.A.lonely B．nervous C．alone D．worried
2.A.thoughts B．finances C．measures D．times
3.A.provide B．sell C．send D．draw
4.A.attract B．remember C．describe D．brighten
5.A.number B．campus C．address D．report
6.A.idea B．surprise C．chance D．message
7.A.decided B．thought C．wished D．concluded
8.A.another B．others C．other D．one
9.A.radio B．camera C．recorder D．phone
10.A.say B．sing C．repeat D．make
11.A.took out B．set out C．gave out D．found out
12.A.added B．devoted C．cleared D．lifted
13.A.suddenly B．originally C．finally D．carefully
14.A.collected B．paid C．arranged D．expected
15.A.until B．after C．unless D．before
16.A.dormitory B．home
C．classroom D．office
17.A.familiar B．happy C．wonderful D．upset
18.A.help B．compare C．share D．witness
19.A.funny B．challenging
C．fun D．timeconsuming
20.A.warned B．convinced C．advised D．told
Jobs and work do much more than most of us realize to provide happiness and contentment.We're all used to thinking that work provides the material things of life—the goods and services that make our modern civilization possible.But we are much less conscious of the degree to which work provides the more important psychological wellbeing that can make the difference between a full and an empty life.
Historically，work has been associated with slavery and sin (罪恶)and punishment.And in our own day we are used to bearing traditional complaints.Against this background，it may well come as a surprise to learn that not only psychologists but other behavioral scientists have come to accept the positive contribution of work to the individual's happiness and sense of personal achievement.Work is more than a necessity for most human beings；it is the focus of their lives，the source of their identity and creativity.
Rather than a punishment of a burden，work is the opportunity to realize one's potential.And the opposite is true，too.For large numbers of people，the absence of work is harmful to their health.Retirement often brings many problems surrounding the “What do I do with myself？”question，even though there may be no financial cares.Large numbers of people regularly get headaches and other illnesses on weekends when they don't have their jobs to go to，and must take care of themselves.It has been observed that unemployment，quite apart from financial pressures，brings enormous psychological troubles and that many individuals'conditions become worse rapidly when jobless.
But why？Why should work be such a significant source of human satisfaction？A good share of the answer rests in the kind of pride that is stimulated by the job，by the activity of accomplishing.
1.Which of the following statements can NOT be learned from the passage?
A．People feel happier and more content than they realize when working.
B．Work is likely to provide you with the chance of achieving your potential.
C．Happiness can only be gained through working.
D．A lot of people will suffer physically and psychologically without work.
2.Traditionally，people are used to believing ________.
A．work is related to negative aspects
B．happiness has nothing to do with work
C．identity and creativity depend on work
D．work is not only a necessity for humans but the focus of their lives
3.What would the author probably discuss in the following paragraph?
A．What the proper way to balance work and life is.
B．How work brings people pride in accomplishment.
C．Which is more important：the material things of life or psychological wellbeing.
D．How people overcome the problems arising from retirement.
4.Which best describes the author's attitude towards work in the passage?
A．Doubtful. B．Concerned.
C．Approving. D．Neutral.
When 19yearold Sophia Giorgi said she was thinking of volunteering to help the MakeAWish Foundation(基金会), nobody understood what she was talking about. But Sophia knew just how important MakeAWish could be because this special organization had helped to make a dream come true for one of her best friends. We were interested in finding out more, so we went along to meet Sophia and listen to what she had to say.
Sophia told us that MakeAWish is a worldwide organization that started in the United States in 1980. “It's a charity(慈善机构) that helps children who have got very serious illnesses. MakeAWish helps children feel happy even though they are sick, by making their wishes and dreams come true，” Sophia explained.
We asked Sophia how MakeAWish had first started. She said it had all begun with a very sick young boy called Chris, who had been dreaming for a long time of becoming a policeman. Sophia said lots of people had wanted to find a way to make Chris's dream come true—so, with everybody's help, Chris, only seven years old at the time, had been a “policeman” for a day. “When people saw how delighted Chris was when his dream came true, they decided to try and help other sick children too, and that was the beginning of MakeAWish，” explained Sophia.
Sophia also told us the Foundation tries to give children and their families a special, happy time. A MakeAWish volunteer visits the families and asks the children what they would wish for if they could have anything in the world. Sophia said the volunteers were important because they were the ones who helped to make the wishes come true. They do this either by providing things that are necessary, or by raising money or helping out in whatever way they can.
1.Sophia found out about MakeAWish because her best friend had ________.
A．benefited from it B．volunteered to help it
C．dreamed about it D．told the author about it
2.According to Sophia, MakeAWish ________.
A．is an international charity
B．was understood by nobody at first
C．raises money for very poor families
D．started by drawing the interest of the public
3.What is said about Chris in Paragraph 3?
A．He has been a policeman since he was seven.
B．He gave people the idea of starting MakeAWish.
C．He wanted people to help make his dream come true.
D．He was the first child MakeAWish helped after it had been set up.
4.Which of the following is true about MakeAWish volunteers?
A．They are important for making wishes come true.
B．They try to help children get over their illnesses.
C．They visit sick children to make them feel special.
D．They provide what is necessary to make MakeAWish popular.
When I entered Berkeley College, I hoped to earn a scholarship. Having been a straight A student, I believed I could ____ tough subjects and really learn something. One such course was World Literature given by Professor Jayne. I was extremely interested in the ideas he ____ in class.
When I took the first exam, I was ____ to find a 77, Cplus, on my test paper, ____ English was my best subject. I went to Professor Jayne, who listened to my arguments but remained ____.
I decided to try harder, although I didn't know what that ____ because study had always been easy for me. I read the books more carefully, but got another 77. Again, I ____ with Professor Jayne. Again, he listened patiently but wouldn't change his ____.
One more test before the final exam. One more ___ to improve my grades. So I redoubled my efforts and, for the first time, ____ the meaning of the word “thorough”. But my ____ did no good and everything ____ as before.
The last hurdle(障碍) was the final. No matter what ____ I got, it wouldn't cancel Cpluses. I might as well kiss the ___ goodbye.
I stopped working hard. I felt I knew the course material as well as I ever would. The night before the final, I even ___ myself to a movie. The next day I decided for once not to ____ much about the result of the test.
A week later, I was surprised to find I got an A. I hurried into Professor Jayne's office. He ____ to be expecting me. “If I had given you the Apluses you ____， you wouldn't have continued to work as hard.”
I stared at him, ____ that his analysis and strategy(策略) were correct. I had worked my head ____， as I had never done before.
I was speechless when my course grade arrived：Aplus. It was the only Aplus given. The next year I received my scholarship. I've always remembered Professor Jayne's lesson：you alone must set your own standard of excellence.
1.A.take B．discuss C．cover D．get
2.A.sought B．presented C．exchanged D．obtained
3.A.shocked B．worried C．scared D．anxious
4.A.but B．so C．for D．or
5.A.unchanged B．unpleasant C．unfriendly D．unmoved
6.A.reflected B．meant C．improved D．affected
7.A.quarreled B．reasoned C．bargained D．concerned
8.A.attitude B．mind C．plan D．view
9.A.choice B．step C．chance D．measure
10.A.memorized B．considered
C．accepted D．learned
11.A.ambition B．confidence C．efforts D．methods
12.A.stayed B．went C．worked D．changed
13.A.grade B．answer C．lesson D．comment
14.A.scholarship B．course
C．degree D．subject
15.A.helped B．favored C．treated D．relaxed
16.A.care B．ask C．cheat D．produce
17.A.happened B．proved C．pretended D．seemed
18.A.valued B．imagined C．expected D．welcomed
19.A.remembering B．guessing
C．supposing D．realizing
20.A.out B．over C．on D．off
