I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a box car in a freight yard in Atlantic City and landing on my head. Now I am thirty two. I can vaguely remember the brightness of sunshine and what color red is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a calamity can do strange things to people. It occurred to me the other day that I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn't been blind. I believe in life now. I am not so sure that I would have believed in it so deeply, otherwise. I don't mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left.
Life, I believe, asks a continuous series of adjustments to reality. The more readily a person is able to make these adjustments, the more meaningful his own private world becomes. The adjustment is never easy. I was bewildered and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me--a potential to live, you might call it--which I didn't see, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. That was basic. If I hadn't been able to do that, I would have collapsed and become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self confidence that helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone. That is part of it. But I mean something bigger than that: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the sweeping, intricate pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. It had to start with the most elementary things. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was mocking me and I was hurt. "I can't use this." I said. "Take it with you," he urged me, "and roll it around." The words stuck in my head. "Roll it around! "By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. At Philadelphia's Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a successful variation of baseball. We called it ground ball.
All my life I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good to try for something I knew at the start was wildly out of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.
1.We can learn from the beginning of the passage that __________________.
A. the author lost his sight because of a car crash.
B. the disaster strengthened the author's desire to see
C. the disaster made the author appreciate what he had.
D. the author wouldn't love life if the disaster didn't happen.
2.What's the most difficult thing for the author?
A. Building up assurance that he can find his place in life.
B. To find a special work that suits the author.
C. Learning to manage his life alone.
D. How to adjust himself to reality.
3.According to the context, "a chair rocker on the front porch" in paragraph 3 means that the author
A. was paralyzed and stayed in a rocking chair.
B. would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life.
C. would sit in a chair and stay at home.
D. would lose his will to struggle against difficulties.
4.According to the passage, the baseball and encouragement offered by the man
A. inspired the author.
B. hurt the author's feeling.
C. gave the author a deep impression
D. directly led to the invention of ground ball.
5. According to the passage, which of the following is CORRECT?
A. The author set goals for himself but only invited failure most of the time.
B. The author suggested not trying something beyond one's ability at the beginning.
C. Because of his limitations, the author tried to reach one goal at a time.
D. The bitterness of failure prevented the author from trying something out of reach.
A good modern newspaper is an extraordinary piece of reading. It is remarkable first for what it contains: the range of news from local crime to international politics, from sports to business to fashion to science, and the range of comment and special features as well, from editorial page to feature articles and interviews to criticism of books, art, theatre, and music. A newspaper is even more remarkable for the way one reads it: never completely, never straight through, but always by jumping from here to there, in and out, glancing at one piece, reading another article all the way through, reading just a few paragraphs of the next. A good modern newspaper offers a variety to attract many different readers, but far more than any one reader is interested in. What brings this variety together in one place is its topicality(时事性) , its immediate relation to what is happening in your world and your locality now. But immediacy and the speed of production that goes with it mean also that much of what appears in a newspaper has no more than transient value. For all these reasons, no two people really read the same paper: what each person does is to put together, out of the pages of that day’s paper, his own selection and sequence, his own newspaper. For all these reasons, reading newspapers efficiently, which means getting what you want from them without missing things you need but without wasting time, demands skill and self-awareness as you modify and apply the techniques of reading.
1. A modern newspaper is remarkable for all the following except its ________.
A. popularity B. uniform style
C. wide coverage D.speed in reporting news
2.According to the passage, the reason why no two people really read the “same” newspaper is that __________.
A. people have different views about what a good newspaper is
B. people are rarely interested in the same kind of news
C.people scan for the news they are interested in
D. different people prefer different newspapers
3. It can be concluded from the passage that newspaper readers _________.
A. apply reading techniques skillfully
B. jump from one newspaper to another
C. appreciate the variety of a newspaper
D. read a newspaper selectively usually
4. A good newspaper offers “a variety” to readers because __________.
A. it has to cover things that happen in a certain locality
B. readers like to read different newspapers
C.it tries to serve different readers
D. readers are difficult to please
5. The best title for this passage would be “__________”.
A. The Characteristics of a Good Newspaper
B. The Variety of a Good Newspaper
C. The Importance of Newspaper Topicality
D. Some Suggestions on How to Read a Newspaper
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Be a leader in environmental science and engineering through the NEMS programme | |
NEWRI Environmental Master of Science(NEMS) is a primary graduate education and research programme conducted by Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU’s) NEWRI, with summer attachment at Stanford University. It aims to train engineers and scientists to meet the increasing environmental challenges for Asia and the wider region. | NEWRI-Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute NEWRI is enabling Singapore to be a global center of environmental science and technology in providing technological solutions to the world. It is committed to environmental and water technologies through its ecosystem of education, research and developmental activities. NEWRI is trying its best to pull together NTU’s water and environment-related centres and institutes, gathering one another’s strengths for the benefit of industry and society. |
Master of Science Applications ● Applications open now and close on 30 May 2012 for Singapore applicants. ● Graduates having relevant engineering or science background, including final-year students, are invited to apply. ● Applicants are required to have a certificate of GRE.
Further information and application materials are available at the Website: http:// www. Cee.ntu.edu.sg/Graduate/NEMS | |
Highlights of Programme: ★ Students spend a full summer term at Stanford taking regular courses and continue with the rest of their academic programme at NTU. ★ It is a 12-month full-time course in environmental science & engineering. ★Students under NEMS will have opportunities to do research projects under NEWRI as well as to continue for the Doctor’s degree. ★ Graduating students receive the NTU degree and a certificate from Stanford for their summer attachment. | |
Scholarship for tuition grants and living expenses at both Stanford and NTU are available | |
Enquiry contact: Ms Christian Soh Tel：(65) 6861 0507 Fax:(65) 68614606 Email: nems@ntu.edu.sg
Information on other graduate programmes available at： www.ntu.edu.sg/cee/program/postgrad.asp | |
1.If one wants to apply for the NEMS programme, it is essential for him to __________.
A. have passed the GRE test
B. make contact with Ms Soh
C. possess a university diploma
D. major in engineering or science
2. Students admitted to the NEMS Programme __________.
A. will first have regular courses at Stanford
B. needn’t be released from their regular jobs
C. are required to obtain a Doctor’s degree
D. can receive degrees of both NTU and Stanford
3.What’s the main purpose of the NEMS programme?
A. To offer scholarship for tuition grants and living expenses.
B. To strengthen the cooperation between NTU and Stanford.
C. To cultivate experts on environmental science and engineering.
D. To introduce Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute.
There is a Web site called the “World Database of Happiness”. It combines and ____ the results of hundreds of surveys from around the world that have been conducted on life ____. Most of the findings are predictable, but a few are ____.
The database(数据库) makes it ____ that there is not a strong connection between material wealth and general contentment. It is a cliche(陈词滥调) to say that money ____ buy happiness, but the old saying seems to be ____ by research. Many people still stick to the belief that gaining riches will be the answer to all their problems, yet they are probably ____.
Studies have been ____ on people who acquired sudden wealth, such as lottery winners. In most cases, after the initial joy had ____， people were not left with a sense of lasting happiness. In fact, they ____ to return to the way they felt before they became rich.____ contented people continue to be contented，____ those who were miserable in the past sink back into misery.
If material wealth does not bring happiness, then ____ does? Perhaps happiness has something to do with ____ you live. The authorities at the World Database of Happiness have surveyed levels of happiness in different ____. Apparently, people in America, Canada, and Singapore are very happy; people living in India and Russia, not surprisingly, are not happy.
Other surveys consistently point to the importance of relationships. Family relationships，____， seem to be the key to long－term contentment. The Web site suggests that ____ in love and having children are two of the situations that bring the greatest happiness.
Nowadays people look to ____ as an alternative source of satisfaction. People increasingly spend more time alone watching TV or surfing the Internet ____ spending time with family. Can technology truly make people happy? It is too difficult to tell, but one thing is sure: If the Web site's research is ____， time spent with your family is a better investment than time spent making money.
1.A. collects B. uses C. adopts D. analyzes
2.A. satisfaction B. style C. condition D. level
3.A. concerning B. surprising C. Controversial D. Contradictory
4.A. real B. true C.clear D. actual
5.A. can B. may C. can't D. mustn't
6. A. carried B. served C. supported D. satisfied
7.A. foolish B. mistaken C. correct D. stupid
8.A. carried out B. carried away C. carried on D. carried off.
9.A. worn out B. worn off C. cut off. D. cut out
10.A. intend B. tend C. attain D. attend
11.A. Previously B. Especially C.Totally D. Actually
12.A. then B. but C. so D. while
13.A. when B. what C. who D. which
14. A. where B. how C. space D. place
15.A. cites B. countries C. towns D. sections
16.A. in fact B. in particular C.in surprise D. in all
17.A. dropping B. feeling C. falling D. stepping
18.A. entertainment B. information C. technology D. study
19.A. rather than B. or rather C. more than D. other than
20. A. accurate B. Adequate(充分的,适合的) C. reasonable D. Simple
The man is such a ________ person that there is no doubt that he will do whatever he has promised.
A. committed B. sensitive C. cautious D. reliable
People have the belief ______ factories should produce fewer things from raw materials, ______ the supply is growing smaller and smaller.
A. which; that B. that; of which
C. that; whose D. which; whose
