Many years ago，when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver，I was driving to my parents’ home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站)about 50 miles from Oklahoma City，where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款台)，I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.
I took off，but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend’s. We chatted on the way into the city，and when I got out of the car，the husband gave me his business card.
I wrote him and his wife a thank you note for helping me. Soon afterward，I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.
Years later，I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I’d left the lights on all day，and the battery(电池) was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership—a shop selling cars —was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.
“Just how friendly is Friendly Ford？”I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment，so when I got home，I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you，and it meant a lot，he said.
“Thank you”－two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.
1.The author planned to stop at Oklahoma City ________.
A．to visit a friend B．to see his parents
C．to pay at the cash register D．to have more gas for his car
2.The underlined words “took off” underlined in Paragraph 2 mean “________”．
A．turned off B．moved off C．put up D．set up
3.The battery of the author’s car was dead because ________.
A．something went wrong with the lights
B．the meeting lasted a whole day
C．he forgot to turn off the lights
D．he drove too long a distance
4.By telling his own experiences，the author tries to show ________.
A．how to write a thank you letter
B．how to deal with car problems
C．the kind heartedness of older people
D．the importance of expressing thanks
What is a lifestyle and how is that different from a life? A lifestyle is about brand names and buying identity or fame. Lifestyle gives a false sense of peace and acceptability that comes from others recognizing what you’ve bought into (as well as bought). If your car, clothes, and home are expensive, you’re sophisticated(世故的) and stylish. If you have the right kind of job or go to the right social gatherings, then you receive the insincere approval of others. This means that your self-esteem(自尊) is always at the mercy of others, with no appreciation of you as an individual.
A life, on the other hand, is very different. A life is what you lead when you know what matters most to you. It is very simple and comes from being connected to what you know is important and being willing to put that first, no matter what others may think. When you create a life vs. a lifestyle, your self-esteem comes from what’s inside you, not what others think about you.
Lifestyle is expensive financially and personally, because it costs a great deal to keep up appearances and do what you think is socially acceptable. A life is not expensive. Rather than using personal or financial resources, a life generates energy and staying power. It’s about liberating yourself from the mindless consumption that society expects. It is about making the choices that are in line with your values, instead of using up your bank account or energy for no heart-driven reason.
How can you make the change? Understand the difference between a life and a lifestyle. Analyze your current lifestyle to see what is costing you in money, time, stress, and energy to maintain it. Let go and make room for what is really important to you, what supports you and brings you joy. Remember who you are from within, not what you own!
1.Which of the following examples best explains “what is life about”?
A．We work long hours in a job that we do not enjoy.
B．We focus on what we wear, or what kind of car we drive.
C．We find out what our true beliefs and values are and choose to live by these.
D．We think that how others see us is more important than what we think of ourselves.
2.What method does the author use to explain his opinion in the third paragraph?
A．Making comparison. B．Giving an example.
C．Giving a definition. D．Giving a reason.
3.To make the change, we need to______________________.
A．be directed from within B．be directed from outside
C．be driven by social values D．be driven by others’ opinions
4.What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
A．To describe what life is.
B．To introduce what lifestyle is.
C．To promote life instead of lifestyle.
D．To tell the differences between life and lifestyle.
Researchers claimed that waitresses who wear red get up to 26 percent extra in tips than they would wearing other colors. However, the team finds that the sexes tip very differently—with the bigger tips coming only from male customers.
No matter what color they wear, female diners will give the same kind of amounts for service every time. Yet men, whether they realize it or not, add anything between 15 and 26 percent more to a waitress in red than they would if it was the same waitress wearing a different color.
The test was simple. Take 11 waitresses in five restaurants over a six-week period and ask them to wear the same kind of T-shirt every day but change the colors. Previous research has suggested waitresses could earn more if they acted charmingly or wore more make-up than their colleagues. But this study, by the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, only changed the color of the T-shirt. Every other aspect from make-up to behavior remained the same.
When wearing either black, white, green, blue or yellow T-shirts, the size of the tips from both male and female customers was almost identical. But when they wore red, the size of the tips went up by between 15 and 26 percent from male customers, yet stayed the same from female ones.
A total of 272 restaurant customers were studied by researchers Nicolas Gueguen and Celine Jacob for the international journal of the tourism industry.
Even as a T-shirt, it shows just how much the color red is thought, by men, to increase the physical and sexual attractiveness of woman, said the researchers.
The researchers wrote: As red color has no negative effect on women customers, it could be in their interest to wear clothes at work.
1.The underlined word “identical” in Para. 4 probably means____________________.
A．different B．similar C．the same D．close
2.According to the passage, in the research by the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research waitresses could earn more by _________________.
A．wearing red T-shirts
B．putting on attractive make-up
C．changing the color of T-shirts
D．behaving themselves
3.Which of the following is right according to the passage?
A．Bright color can increase the physical and sexual attractiveness of women.
B．Waitresses in red make no difference to female customers.
C．Make-up makes no difference to man customers.
D．Whether male customers tips more or not depends on service.
4.What is the main idea of the passage?
A．People tip differently if waitresses wear different make-up.
B．Waitresses who wear red get more tips than they would wearing other colors.
C．Male customers are more interested in the red color.
D．Red color has no negative effect on female customers.
Like many languages spoken by people, Ayapaneco is dying. Only two people in the world still speak it, and they won't talk to each other.
Spoken in Mexico for centuries, Ayapaneco is one of 68 surviving languages in the mainly Spanish-speaking nation. The two speakers are Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez. Though they live only 500 meters from each other in the village, the two men seldom talk to each other. Daniel, an American expert, who is working to make a dictionary of Ayapaneco, says the two men “don’t have a lot in common,” and that Segovia can be “active” while Velasquez tends to mind his own business and stay at home.
While Segovia still speaks to his wife and son in Ayapaneco, neither of them can manage more than a few words. Velasquez hardly speaks his native tongue any more. Daniel is working to preserve the language in dictionary form before its last surviving speakers pass away. According to Daniel, Ayapaneco and the other languages began dying out with the introduction of public Spanish education in the mid-20th century. For decades, local children weren’t allowed to speak anything else. Many people to cities, starting in the 1970s, also helped the dying out of native languages.
Ayapaneco is the name given to the language; Segovia and Velazquez call it “Nuumte Oote”, which means “true voice”. Neither man, however, speaks the same language. The dictionary will contain two versions(版本) of the language when it comes out later this year. Those behind the dictionary aren’t the only ones trying to save Ayapaneco. The National Language Institute plans to hold classes so that Segovia and Velasquez can pass on what they know to children.
It is thought that there are about 6,000 languages spoken on earth and that about half will disappear over the next 100 years. Let’s hope the “true voice” isn’t one of them.
1.Which are the main reasons why the language Ayapaneco started dying out?
a. No teacher liked to teach it.
b. Local children had to speak Spanish.
c. many villagers went to live in cities.
d. The surviving speakers didn’t like to use it.
A．a, b B．a, c C．b, d D．b, c
2.How does the National Language Institute try to save Ayapaneco?
A．Write a dictionary of Ayapaneco.
B．Let Ayapaneco be taught at school.
C．Introduce a public Ayapaneco education.
D．Ask villagers to speak Ayapaneco.
3.From the text we learn that the author____________________.
A．agrees that it is natural that Ayapaneco should die out
B．thinks Daniel’s effort to preserve Ayapaneco won’t work
C．thinks highly of Ayapaneco and wants people to learn it
D．hopes that Ayapaneco will not die out in the future
One summer day my father sent me to buy wire for our farm. At 16，I liked ____ better than driving our truck，____ this time I was not happy. My father had told me I’d have to ask for credit(赊账) at the store.
Sixteen is a ____age，when a young man wants respect，not charity. It was 1976，and the ugly ___ of racial discrimination was ____ a fact of life. I’d seen my friends ask for credit and then stand，head down，while the store owner ___ whether they were “good for it.” I knew black youths just like me who were ___ like thieves by the store clerk each time they went into a grocery.
My family was ___.We paid our debts. But before harvest，cash was short. Would the store owner ____ us?
At Davis’s store，Buck Davis stood behind the cash desk，talking to a farmer. I nodded ____ I passed him on my way to the hardware shelves. When I brought my ____ to the cash desk，I said ____，“I need to put this on credit.”
The farmer gave me an amused，distrustful ___.But Buck’s face didn’t change. “Sure，” he said ___.“Your daddy is ___ good for it.” He ___ to the other man. “This here is one of James Williams’s sons.”
The farmer nodded in a neighborly __.I was filled with pride. James Williams’s son. Those three words had opened a door to an adult’s respect and trust.
That day I discovered that the good name my parents had ____ brought our whole family the respect of our neighbors. Everyone knew what to ___ from a Williams: a decent person who kept his word and respected himself ____ much to do wrong.
1.A. somethingB．nothingC．anythingD．everything
2.A. andB．soC．butD．for
3.A. pridefulB．wonderfulC．respectfulD．colorful
4.A. intentionB．shadowC．habitD．faith
5.A. thusB．justC．stillD．ever
6.A. guessedB．suspectedC．questionedD．figured
7.A. watchedB．caughtC．dismissedD．accused
8.A. generousB．honestC．friendlyD．modest
9.A. blameB．excuseC．chargeD．trust
10.A. untilB．asC．onceD．since
11.A. purchasesB．salesC．ordersD．favorites
12.A. casuallyB．confidentlyC．cheerfullyD．carefully
13.A. lookB．stareC．responseD．comment
14.A. patientlyB．eagerlyC．easilyD．proudly
15.A. generallyB．neverC．sometimesD．always
16.A. pointedB．repliedC．turnedD．introduced
17.A. senseB．wayC．degreeD．mood
18.A. earnedB．deservedC．givenD．used
19.A .receiveB．expectC．collectD．require
20.A. veryB．soC．howD．too
_______ snacks and drinks，but they also brought cards for entertainment when they had
a picnic in the forest.
A．Not only they brought B．Not only did they bring
C．Not only brought they D．Not only they did bring
