Do you have a hobby—something you really enjoy doing in your spare time? Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could spend more time on your hobby and less time at work? Maybe it’s not an either/or situation. Perhaps you can do both at the same time.
When choosing a career, one of the things you must consider is your interests. Why then do so many people not even think about their hobbies when a hobby is, in fact, an interest? Perhaps it’s because even Webster’s Dictionary defines a hobby as “a pursuit (消遣，嗜好) outside one’s regular occupation (职业)”. Maybe this is a rule you should break. After all, no one ever said your hobby had to stay separate from your occupation. In addition people are usually very skilled at their hobbies. The combination of interest and skill is a very compelling (令人信服的) reason to choose a particular career.
“Who’s going to hire someone who loves making beaded (串珠状的) jewelry?” you may ask yourself. Good question. Don’t wait for someone to hire you. Start your own business. That may be the best way to combine your hobby with your career. Those with hobbies that involve creating things, i.e. jewelry, clothing, or pottery, may do well to sell those items on their own. Before you go forward with your plans, though, you should find out whether being an entrepreneur (企业家) is for you.
When you attempt to turn your hobby into a career, don’t forget to do your homework. Even though you may have enjoyed training your pet birds to sing the national song, that doesn’t mean you’re suitable to be an animal trainer. Be sure to research your career choice completely. There may be aspects（方面）of it that just aren’t for you. In that case, stick to your day job, as they say, and save your hobby for your free time.
1. Why does the writer ask two questions in the first paragraph?
A. To lead in the topic of hobby and career.
B. To describe what can be a hobby.
C. To compare hobbies with work.
D. To explain what a hobby is.
2. We can infer（推断）from paragraph 2 that many people ___________.
A. always mix their interest with their hobbies
B. often separate their hobbies from their jobs
C. daren’t break a rule of choosing their jobs
D. don’t know the true meaning of a hobby
3.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. Doing one’s homework may be a hobby.
B. A day job can’t be a hobby in your spare time.
C. Not every hobby is suitable to become a career.
D. An animal trainer has a hobby of singing songs.
4. By writing this passage, the writer wants to introduce ___________.
A. how to choose a hobby for your free time
B. how to develop your own hobby
C. how to treat your job as a hobby
D. how to turn a hobby into a career
English is a very interesting language. It has borrowed words from many other languages. Immigrants(移民) coming into the United States have contributed many words to the language, which have kept their original pronunciation. “Coolie” and “kowtow” were taken from the Chinese language, “kamikaze from the Japanese, “shampoo” from India, “blitz” from German, “amigo” and “Los Angeles” from Spanish and so on.
Many students have studied English for years, some as many as eight. However, some students still have difficulty in speaking fluent English. Some know many words but are unable to discern them when native speakers use them. In our Oral English classes we will focus on speaking and listening to native English speakers. For this reason, because we are trying to train your ears to hear English and your mouths to speak intelligible (易理解的) English, we will have a rule that ONLY ENGLISH will be spoken in our English classes. Anyone speaking Chinese in class will be required to pay a fine(罚款) in order to encourage the speaking and understanding of English. If teachers enter a classroom and discover that anyone is speaking Chinese, they will require everyone in the room to pay the fine. It is everyone’s job to enforce the English-Only rule. It is for your benefit. It is because we want to accustom (使习惯于) your ears to hearing English.
Other subjects may be learned only from books but the only way to learn a foreign language is to SPEAK IT! Students are often nervous about speaking in class at first but we hope to make the classes fun, so you will forget your nervousness and learn to speak out. Enjoy your classes.
1.The first paragraph is mainly about________.
A. the difficulty of learning English.
B. different words in different languages
C. how interesting and various English is
D. the immigrants’ contributions to America
2. The underlined word “discern” in Para 2 can be replaced by___________.
A. notice B. understand
C. hear D. speak
3. In the author’s opinion, the only way to learn a language well is to__________.
A. listen to it on the radio
B. learn it from books
C. play games with it
D. speak it often
4.The article is probably aimed at________.
A. Japanese students B. German students
C. Chinese students D. Indian students
Mr. Brown worked in a factory of a small town. He had been there for twenty years before one day he was sent to the capital for important business. He was quite excited because he had never been there before. Before he set off, he asked his wife and three daughters if they wanted him to buy something for them in London. Mrs. Brown began to think it over and then she said she wished her husband would be able to buy a nice umbrella for her, and so did their three daughters. As he was afraid he would forget it, he drew an umbrella on his hand. To his regret, he lost it at the station.
On the train Mr. Brown sat opposite to an old woman. The woman’s umbrella was so nice that he carefully looked at it and said to himself not to forget to buy a few umbrellas like it. When the train arrived at the station in London, he said good-bye to the old woman, took his bag and her umbrella and was going to get off.
“Wait a minute, sir,” shouted the old woman. “That’s my umbrella!”
Then Mr. Brown noticed that he had taken her umbrella. His face turned red at once and said in a hurry,“Oh, I’m very sorry, Madam! I didn’t mean it!”
Seven days later Mr. Brown left the capital. To his surprise, he met the old woman and sat opposite to her again. Looking at the four umbrellas, the old woman was satisfied with herself. “It seems that I had a better result than the other four women.” She thought.
1.We can learn from the passage that Mr. Brown was ______.
A. a conductor B. a worker
C. a thief D. an umbrella maker
2.Why did Mr. Brown take the woman’s umbrella?
A. Because he was lost in thought.
B. Because it was much like his own umbrella.
C. Because he thought the woman would not notice it.
D. Because the woman misplaced it beside Mr. Brown.
3. When looking at Mr. Brown with four umbrellas, the woman thought ______.
A. Mr. Brown was an umbrella maker
B. Mr. Brown was selling his umbrellas
C. Mr. Brown had bought four umbrellas for his family.
D. Mr. Brown had stolen the other women’s umbrellas
4. How did Mr. Brown get the four umbrellas?
A. He bought them in London.
B. He picked them on the train.
C. He brought them from his small town.
D. He stole them from four women.
My mother seemed to be able to make dolls (洋娃娃) out of anything. She made some dolls for me and my two elder sisters. I playing with them, but still, secretly, I hoped for a store-bought like the one our rich cousin had. Her doll open and close its blue glass eyes and even say “Mamma”. I stopped admiring it and hoping to have one.
However, my dream came true when I was six. One day my father came back from his business trip with three dolls! They were much smaller than our cousin’s doll and their eyes were just painted ones, but I did not such differences. They were “store-bought”dolls. We each chose one and I named Misako.
Soon my sisters and I became devoted . Our “children” kept us all day. We gave them a bath, them, brushed their hair, took them out for a walk and put them to bed. Several months later, they got more like real children — their and bodies became dirtier; their dresses got stained; their hair less smooth.
But, by then, interests seemed to have moved into toys. Their dolls were abandoned (被抛弃) and in bad condition. One had one of her arms, and was one-legged. “You can them if you want,” my sisters said to me. Therefore, I had dolls. They were more or less handicapped (残疾) and they often looked at me as if they needed me to them. I enjoyed this feeling of being needed — being the only one in the world who could protect them with a lot of love. Indeed, they made the rest of my childhood days very happy.
1.A. wanted B. expected C. hoped D. enjoyed
2.A. doll B. toy C. girl D. baby
3.A. might B. should C. could D. dared
4.A. often B. never C. sometimes D. seldom
5.A. immediately B. firstly C. hardly D. finally
6.A. beautiful B. lovely C. store-bought D. new
7.A. care about B. care for C. think about D. worry about
8.A. total B. real C. like D. unlike
9.A. my B. one C. them D. mine
10.A. sisters B. fathers C. friends D. mothers
11.A. free B. busy C. hard D. tired
12.A. wore B. put on C. dressed D. wash
13.A. faces B. legs C. arms D. hands
14.A. my B. their C. my sisters’ D. my doll’s
15.A. tiny B. different C. curious D. humorous
16.A. hurt B. wounded C. lost D. damaged
17.A. the other B. another C. it D. other
18.A. look out for B. take care of C. pay attention to D. have a look at
19.A. two B. few C. many D. three
20.A. teach B. feed C. satisfy D. help
—Than k you for joining in our conversation tonight.
—_____.
A. It’s my duty B. It’s all right
C. It’s my pleasure D. With pleasure
After long a nd hard work, the police at last discovered the ________ of the baby found by the side of a road.
A. attitude B. identity
C. situation D. concern
