Some say that madness and genius often come hand in hand. This is especially true 1. the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh.
Van Gogh is famous for his 2. (amaze) use of color and shape. Born in 1853, he was painting at a time when art was changing. A long time ago, artists tried to make their 3. (paint) look real like photographs. But later on, art became more about the artist’s own ideas. If you see 4. Van Gogh, it won’t look like the real world. It will look even more beautiful.
Some of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings are of natural scenes and flowers, such as sunflowers. He also painted many wonderful self-portraits, which 5. (bring) him a lot of fame. Van Gogh had a gift for painting; however, he was a troubled man. At one point, he cut off 6. own ear.
Van Gogh is now one of the world’s most famous artists. But he died at the age of 37, alone 7. poor. Almost nobody knew or cared about his art at that time. Although he was a great genius, he suffered 8. (great). Some say that his madness was 9. he paid for his art.
Actually, if Van Gogh had died at the age of twenty, no one would have connected him with failure or mental illness. 10. , he would have been remembered by those close to him as a dutiful son.
For most, getting your first car opens up a new world of freedom and allows you to go wherever you want, whenever you want. Getting a car did this for me, and it also brought my best friend and me . But then it tore us apart.
My best friend lives three minutes from my . Since her is in late summer, seven months behind mine, I basically became her when I turned 16 in December.
And so I her up for school and took her home. We made ice-cream , went shopping and to the movies ---- all in my car. I would drive to her house just to sit on her bed, read magazines and have a good laugh. I went to her house so that she gave me a to her house.
A week after I got my license，she was with me I had my first accident. She was there and me and we kept it a , since I didn’t want people to . From then on, through thick and thin, it was just me, my car and my best friend.
High school is a time of , but I couldn’t for a long time we became so distant(疏远) after being so close. My friend waited three months after her birthday to get her dream car：a green 2004 Beetle. With its , the passenger seat of my car became . Our car trips became less frequent I didn’t even drive down her street.
It’s funny how a car can change a relationship so much. I had wanted her to g a car, but once she did, I 60 it. I wanted her friendship back, even if it couldn’t be the same.
1.A. some B. any C. none D. all
2.A. closer B. farther C. luckier D. happier
3.A. neighbor B. school C. home D. family
4.A. holiday B. birthday C. course D. job
5.A. driver B. follower C. partner D. guide
6.A. picked B. woke C. called D. hurried
7.A. parties B. trips C. plans D. classes
8.A. happily B. often C. hardly D. seldom
9.A. phone B. door C. address D. key
10.A. while B. but C. after D. when
11.A. saved B. suggested C. advised D. comforted
12.A. favorite B. secret C. pride D. joke
13.A. help B. see C. know D. laugh
14.A. change B. disappointment C. excitement D. friendship
15.A. understand B. answer C. imagine D. believe
16.A. when B. where C. how D. what
17.A. beauty B. dream C. return D. arrival
18.A. broken B. crowded C. empty D. different
19.A. however B. until C. as D. before
20.A. enjoyed B. received C. regretted D. Lost
A good book can be satisfying. If reading is a habit you’d like to get into, there are some ways to develop it.
Realize that reading is enjoyable if you have a good book. If you have a difficult book and you are forcing yourself through it, it will seem like a task. 1.
Set time. You should have some time during every day when you’ll read for at least 5 to 10 minutes. 2. For example, make it a habit to read during breakfast and lunch and even dinner if you eat alone.
Always carry a book. 3. When I leave the house, I always make sure to have my car keys and one book at hand. The book stays with me in the car, and I take it into the office and to appointments and pretty much everywhere I go.
4. Find a place in your home where you can sit in a comfortable chair. Don’t lie down unless you’re going to sleep. There shouldn’t be a television or a computer near the chair, and no music or no noisy family members/ roommates. If you don’t have a place like this, create one.
Reduce television/ the Internet. If you really want to read more, try cutting back on time on TV or the Internet. 5. Still, every minute you reduce of the Internet/ TV, you could use for reading. This could create hours of book reading time.
A. Wherever you go, take a book with you.
B. Go to bookstores.
C. Have some good tea or coffee while you read.
D. Find a quiet place.
E. This may be difficult for some people.
F. If this happens, give up the book and find another one that you’ll really love.
G. It means you will read no matter how busy you are.
Yasuda is 95 years old. Looking for easier ways to search the Web and send email, he bought Apple’s iPad. The company has sold 3.27 million iPads since they entered the market in April. Although it’s impossible to know with certainty how many seniors (老年人) are buying them, evidence suggests that it’s a hit with seniors.
The iPad’s intuitive interface (直观界面) makes it attractive to seniors around the world, says Takahiro Miura, a researcher at the University of Tokyo. “The iPad is a good tool for seniors because it’s very easy to use,” he says. “Unlike the PC, it doesn’t require former knowledge.”
James Cordwell, a researcher in London, says the iPad’s popularity with seniors is helping Apple reach beyond its traditional base of young customers. “The world’s population, especially in developed markets, is getting older. It’s probably a market where Apple has least entered,” Cordwell says. Senior users are “a key source of growth for them in the future.”
Seniors make up about 22 percent of the population in Japan. They may prove that seniors are willing to accept the iPad. Besides the customer group under 30, they spend more than any other group in the country, according to a report. Motoo Kitamura, 78, a former gas salesman, bought an iPad to help him communicate with his 2-year-old grandson and prevent him from experiencing some of the mental problems that sometimes come with getting older. “Trying new things like that is good mental exercise,” he says.
1.Which of the following is NOT an advantage of the iPad?
A. It has intuitive interface.
B. It is easy to operate.
C. Beginners can use it without similar experiences.
D. People can use it as a way to do mental exercise.
2.What can we learn from the text?
A. People above thirty are Apple’s largest customer group in Japan.
B. The traditional customers of Apple’s products are usually the young.
C. Seniors will soon grow into Apple’s largest customer group.
D. Seniors in Japan are fond of buying latest hi-tech products.
3.What is the text mainly about?
A. iPad leading Apple to seniors.
B. iPad influencing the customer group.
C. iPad’s arrival causing Japanese to think.
D. iPad beating the traditional PC
How to improve our life? Many people think that they have to accept whatever life throws at them. They’ll say, “This is my destiny(命运). I cannot change it.”
Of course not! You don’t have to suffer needlessly. Your life depends on you, not on other factors.
I know a woman who says she just accepts what life gives her because she has done everything she can to improve it. Guess what her lifestyle is? She wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes back home, relaxes, chats with people, watches TV, and then goes to sleep. Next day, the same routine cycle follows.
Huh! Is this what she calls “doing her best”? She believes she has tried her best and just accepts it in her heart that this is the life that has been intended for her and that her luck can only change if God wills it. She hasn’t realized that we have to do our share of making the effort to live the life of our dreams.
Remember that you harvest what you sow. You have to get off the sofa, get your eyes off the TV screen, get your hands off the phone (unless it’s helpful to your success), and get your mind and body to work! Don’t expect your luck to change, unless you do something about it. If something goes wrong, don’t just regard it as a temporary(暂时的) problem; Instead, learn your lesson, make the most of the situation, and do something to solve the problem. It’s not enough to think positively; you also have to act positively.
If someone’s life is in trouble, do you just hope and pray that things will turn out fine? Of course not! You get to do anything you can to save the person. So it is with your own life. It is not enough to hope for the best, but you have to do your best. In other words, don’t just stand (or sit) there, do something to improve your life.
1.According to the woman mentioned in Para.3, her life________.
A. doesn’t need improving
B. couldn’t be improved
C. will be better some day
D. will be worse in the future
2.What does the author think of the woman’s life?
A. Positive. B. Passive.
C. Disturbing. D. Colorful.
3.In Para.5, the author emphasized the importance of ________.
A. positive action B. positive thinking
C. hope for the best D. intention to succeed
4.The text is mainly written to advise you to _________.
A. understand yourself B. believe in yourself
C. improve your life D. change your normal way
If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.
Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of anxiety.
The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.
The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the rate(价钱). From then on, they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly(相应地).
With so many loopholes(漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.
In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to be on guard against others?
1.While taking a taxi in Finland, ________.
A. a passenger can go anywhere without having to pay the driver
B. a passenger pays two US dollars for a taxi ride
C. a passenger can never be turned down by the taxi driver wherever he wants to go
D. a passenger needs to provide good faith demonstration(证明) before leaving without paying
2.We know from the passage that big hotels in Finland ________.
A. are mostly poorly managed
B. provide meals for any diners
C. provide free wine and charge for food
D. provide meal for only those who live in the hotels
3.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. The workers in Finland are paid by the hour.
B. The workers are always honest with their working hours.
C. The workers and their bosses will make an agreement in advance about the pay.
D. The bosses in Finland are too busy to check the working hours of their employees.
4.The word “those” in the last but one paragraph probably refers to _______.
A. people who are dishonest
B. people who often have meals in big hotels
C. people who often take taxis
D. people who are worthy of trust
