It was Saturday when the entire summer world was bright and fresh. Tom looked at the fence, which was long and high, feeling all enthusiasm leaving him. He dipped his brush into the whitewash before moving it along the top board of the fence. He knew other boys would arrive soon with all minds of interesting plans for this day. As walking past him, they would tease him for having to work on a beautiful Saturday—which burnt him like fire.
He, putting his hands into his pockets and taking out all he owned with the expectation of letting someone paint, found nothing that could buy half an hour of freedom. At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea occurred to him, pouring a great bright light into his mind. He took up his brush and continued to work pleasantly with calm and quietness.
Presently, Ben Rogers came in sight—munching an apple and making joyful noises like the sound of a riverboat as he walked along. Tom went on whitewashing, paying no attention to the steamboat. “Hello!” Ben said, “I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”
No answer. Tom moved his brush gently along the fence and surveyed the result. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for Ben’s apple while he kept painting the fence.
Ben said, “That’s a lot of work, isn’t it?”
Tom turned suddenly saying “Here you are! Ben! I didn’t notice you.”
“I’m going swimming,” Ben said. “Don’t you wish you could go? Or would you rather work?” Tom said, “Work? What do you mean ‘work’?”
“Isn’t that work?” Tom continued painting and answered carelessly, “Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. All I know is it suits Tom Sawyer.”
“Do you mean that you enjoy it?”
“I don’t see why I oughtn’t to enjoy it.”
“Does a boy have a chance to paint a fence frequently” said Tom.
Ben stopped munching his apple.
Tom moved his brush back and forth—stepped back to note the effect—added a little paint here and there. Ben watched every move, getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed. After a short time, he said, “Tom, let me whitewash a little.”
Tom seemed to be thinking for a moment before he said, “No, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. If it was the back fence, maybe you could do it. But this fence beside the street is where everybody can see it. It has to be done right.”
“Oh, come on, let me try. I’ll be careful. Listen, Tom. I’ll give you part of my apple if you let me paint.” “No, Ben, I’m afraid—” “I’ll give you all the apple!”
Tom handed the brush to Ben with unwillingness on his face but alacrity in his heart. While the riverboat worked and sweated in the hot sun, Tom, an artist sat in the shade close by, munching his apple, and planning how he could trick more of the boys.
Before long there were enough boys each of whom came along the street; stopped to laugh but soon begged to be allowed to paint. By the middle of the afternoon, Tom had got many treasures while the fence had had three layers of whitewash on it. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, he would have owned everything belonging to the boys in the village.
Tom said to himself that the world was not so depressing after all. He had discovered a great law of human action: in order to make a man cover a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.
1.By using “Tom continued painting and answered carelessly”, the author shows Tom ______ when he was talking to Ben.
A. made mistakes B. damaged things
C. was natural D. wasn’t concentrating
2.The underlined word “alacrity” in the last but two paragraph most probable means “______”.
A. kindness B. discouragement
C. sympathy D. eagerness
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage? ________
A. Tom did not want to go swimming at all
B. Tom was asked to help Aunt Polly paint the fence
C. Tom did not get along well with his friends
D. Tom was very busy that Saturday afternoon.
4.We can draw a conclusion from the last paragraph that _______.
A. forbidden fruit is sweet.
B. a friend in need is a friend indeed.
C. all good things must come to an end.
D. a bad excuse is better than none.
One day my 13-year-old daughter told me that she was going to spend the afternoon at her friend Jesse’s house. I didn’t doubt it until I called Jesse’s number to remind Liz that it was her turn to walk the dog, and Jesse’s mom picked up the phone and said, “I thought she and Jesse were planning to be at your house.” It turned out that the two of them had decided to hang out at a coffee shop instead. When I questioned my daughter, she replied coldly, “What’s the big deal? You’re such a psycho(精神变态者).”
Can you say it is right or wrong for them to behave like that? Their changeable personalities leave you feeling angry and guilty at the same time. In fact, if your kids don’t annoy you from time to time, you’re not doing your job.
“There’s nothing wrong about being angry with your child,” Says Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D., author of The 10 Basic Principles of Good Parenting. “Conflict is natural when your innocent, lovely child turns into an adolescent who can hardly tolerate (忍受) you. It’s part of the process of separation.” Kids insisted on their individuality with behavior to purposely drive you crazy. It’s their way of saying, “I am my own person” -- but doing it in a context that’s safe and that has clear limits.
So when your little darling changes into a silent person who still expects meals, clothing, and transportation, don’t panic. Here’s how to handle some common problems without losing your temper or your self-respect.
1.It can be learned from the first paragraph that ________.
A. Jesse’s mother told a lie
B. the writer was too sensitive
C. Liz told a lie to her mother
D. the writer’s daughter stayed at Jesse’s house
2.By saying “In fact, if your kids don’t annoy you from time to time, you’re not doing your job”, the writer probably means that _________.
A. when you are doing a job, your kids shouldn’t annoy you
B. parents should be responsible for children’s bad behavior
C. parents shouldn’t tolerate their children’s bad behavior
D. it’s understandable for kids to annoy their parents
3.What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?
A. It’s right for parents to be angry with their children.
B. It’s allowed for children to do anything as they like.
C. It’s bad behavior for children to drive their parents angry.
D. It’s normal for adolescents to go against the wishes of their parents sometimes.
4.What would the writer state in the following paragraphs?
A.How to be good parents.
B.How to be good children.
C.Rules for children to follow.
D.How to deal with adolescents’ common problems properly.
China’s government has been trying all measures to reduce pollution in the past few years. Now people can enjoy a fresh environment everywhere. The following two graphs are adopted from the column of “City Information” on the webpage of Beijing Review.
Graph 1: Olympic Cities Air Quality Report
City | Date | API | Major Pollutant | Air Quality Degree | Quality Condition |
Beijing | Sep. 8 | 37 | N/A | Ⅰ | Very good |
Qinhuangdao | Sep. 8 | 52 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Qingdao | Sep. 8 | 68 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Shanghai | Sep. 8 | 67 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Shenyang | Sep. 8 | 88 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Tianjin | Sep. 8 | 54 | PM10 | Ⅱ | Good |
Graph 2: Chinese National Standard
API Values | Levels of health concern | Colors |
When the API is in this range: | ...air quality conditions are: | ...as symbolized by this color: |
0 to 50 | Very good | Blue |
51 to 100 | Good | Green |
101 to 150 | Slight pollution | Yellow |
151 to 200 | Moderate pollution | Orange |
201 to 250 | Medium pollution | Red |
251 to 300 | High pollution | Purple |
301 to 500 | Hazardous | Brown |
Notes:
**API stands for Air Pollution Index(指数).
**Particulate matter (PM10) is a major component of air pollution that threatens both our health and our environment. It consists of very small liquid and solid particles floating in the air.
**Sulfur dioxide(SO2) acts as an acid．Inhalation(吸入) results in labored breathing, coughing, or a sore throat and may cause permanent lung damage.
1.According to Graph 1, which of the following cities has the worst air pollution?
A. Qinhuangdao. B. Tianjin.
C. Qingdao D. Shenyang.
2.If your city is symbolized by either red or purple, the pollution in your city is .
A. Moderate or high. B. Moderate or slight.
C. Medium or high. D. Medium or slight.
3.Which of the following statements is TURE?
A. With API value below 150 the air is free from being polluted.
B. The colors from purple to Yellow indicate the air quality is becoming much worse.
C. When there are floating solid particles and dust in the air, it is dangerous pollution.
D. On September 8th the color-symbol of Beijing City’s air quality is ‘Blue’.
4.When more citizens are beginning to have labored breathing soon after they are in the open air, it suggests that .
A. there is a large amount of sulfur dioxide in the air
B. it is so cold that they may have caught a cold
C. they are starting to cough or have a fever
D. they must be infected with permanent lung disease
How do people traditionally manufacture (制造) things? They usually start with a sheet of metal, wood or other material and cut, drill (钻) and shave it to create a desired shape. Sometimes, they use a mold (模具) made of metal or sand, pour liquid plastic or metal into it and let it cool to create a solid part.
Now, a completely different method is gaining popularity.
On Oct. 9, 2013, London Science Museum kicked off its new exhibition, 3-D: Printing the Future, with over 600 3-D printed objects on display, including space probes (探测器), toy dolls and even human organs – basically any product you can think of, reported Live Science.
You might find it hard to believe that an object can actually be “printed out” like a picture. But it is not that hard to understand how it works. Just as a traditional printer sprays (喷洒) ink onto paper line by line, modern 3-D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.
Instead of ink, the materials the 3-D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin (树脂) and certain metals. The thinner each layer is – from a millimeter to less than the width of a hair – the smoother and finer the object will be. And objects always come out in one piece, sparing you the trouble of putting different parts together afterward.
For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3-D printer might have cost ￡20,000 (200,000 yuan), while now it costs only about ￡1,000, according to the BBC. In fact, 3-D printers have been around for some time, but until recently they hadn’t been very popular since few people could afford them. Last year, though, saw a big decrease in the price of 3-D printers.
However, as 3-D printing technology becomes more commonplace, it may trigger certain problems. One of them is piracy (盗版). “Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3-D printer, who will visit a retail (零售的) store again?” an expert on 3-D printing told Forbes News.
Even more frightening, the world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully fired in the US in May of this year, which means that 3-D printing could potentially give more people access to weapons.
1.According to the article, in the future, 3-D printing technology will probably ______.
A. change the way people make products
B. be applied as widely in our daily lives as computers
C. forbid many countries to make purchases of weapons
D. take the place of normal printers and save lots of energy
2.What was the big event that happened in the 3-D printing industry last year?
A. Over 600 3-D printed objects were on display in an exhibition.
B. 3-D printing technology came to be used in various fields.
C. The world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully made.
D. The 3-D printer became more affordable for consumers.
3.What is the author’s attitude toward 3-D printing technology?
A. Amused. B. Objective.
C. Supportive. D. Negative.
Tom was a middle-aged leather trader whose repeated failure made him a depressed man, often complaining that others had been playing tricks on him. One day he told his wife he was so ____ with the city that he had to leave.
So his family moved to ____ city. It was in the evening of a weekend when Tom and his wife were busy ____ up their new home____ the light suddenly went out . So they had to ____ work. Tom was regretful to have forgotten bringing along candles and had to wait____ in a low mood. Just then he heard slight hesitant knocks on his door that sounded clear in the____ night.
“Who’s it?” he wondered, since Tom had no____ in this new city. And this was the moment he especially disliked being disturbed . ____, he went unwillingly to the door and opened it impatiently. At the door was a little girl, shyly asking,” Sir, do you have ____? I’m your new neighbor.” “No,”answered Tom in anger and shut the door violently. “What a nuisance!” he complained over it with his wife. “No sooner had we settled down____ the neighbor came to____ things.” After a while, the door was knocked___. He opened it and found the same girl outside. But this time she was holding two candles, saying, “My grandma told me the new neighbor might need candles. She ____ me here to give you these.” Tom was very ____ by what he saw. When he became fully aware, he said , “Thank you and your____ . God bless you!”
At that moment he suddenly realized what caused his ____ in life. It was his ____ and harshness (刻薄) with other people. The person who had cheated him in life was ____ nobody else but himself, for he had fallen for his unsympathetic____ .
1.A. inspired B. satisfied C. disappointed D. encouraged
2.A. the other B. other C. every D. another
3.A. looking B. tuning C. cleaning D. ending
4.A. where B. that C. why D. when
5.A. continue B. start C. quit D. change
6.A. helplessly B. happily C. patiently D. hopefully
7.A. quiet B. dark C. noisy D. crowded
8.A. acquaintance B. stranger C. consultant D. adolescent
9.A. So B. Though C. However D. In case
10.A. lights B. candles C. tricks D. failures
11.A. when B. that C. while D. than
12.A. lend B. sell C. purchase D. borrow
13.A. suddenly B. again C. too D. constantly
14.A. suggested B. forbade C. sent D. forced
15.A. frightened B. pleased C. puzzled D. surprised
16.A. grandma B. mother C. father D. brother
17.A. failure B. success C. dissatisfaction D. determination
18.A. apology B. coldness C. responsibility D. concept
19.A. in reality B. in particular C. in all D. in general
20.A. brain B. mind C. thought D. idea
---It’s a long time since I saw Marry.
--- _________ her this afternoon?
A. Why not to B. Why not visit her
C. Why not visiting D. Why don’t visit
