David: Mr. Smith, sorry to disturb you, but I really have something important 1.______ (discuss) with you. I think we can have robots make cough medicine for us.
Mr. Smith: Robots? Are you playing 2._______ joke on me? Why are you talking about robots with me? Don’t forget the fact 3.______ we are only a small company.
David: You see we make ten different kinds of cough medicine. But each operation only has four steps.
Mr. Smith: How many robots will we need 4._______ all then?
David: Four. The first robot will measure and mix the materials 5.______ (use) for making the medicine. The second robot will pour the medicine into the bottles. Then the third robot will put on the labels. The last robot will pack the bottles into boxes.
Mr. Smith: And what will happen when one of the robots breaks down?
David: A repairman 6._______ (send) here by the robot company within an hour.
Mr. Smith: I just can’t imagine it. What will we have here? A quiet building with robots rolling around doing the work?
David: That’s it. And these robots are great workers. They will work 24 hours a day without feeling tired but surely to your7.________ (satisfy). Whatever you say is 8.______ (obey) perfectly. I think every boss desires 9. ________ (have) these robots.
Mr. Smith: I am 10.____ (total) in favour of your idea.
完形填空
读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
A special lady lived on a farm in Grace, Idaho. To overcome every ________ or struggle that came her way, she went far beyond the call of duty. She was a widow (寡妇) with 9 children. Instead of ________ of her hard life, she accepted her fate (命运) and ________ the ordinary into the extraordinary.
No matter how serious things seemed to be, she found a(n) ________ side and a ray of hope. She taught her family the ________ of hard work and the importance of education, ________ she only went as far as fourth grade.
Her children didn’t have material ________, but they certainly received the necessary and ________ things in life: love, spiritual guidance, concern for others, appreciation for a table filled with food, and ________ for the law. She was truly a(n) ________ of all that is good.
I remember as a young man sitting at her feet while she ________ me. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” And she said, “I’ll ________ throw upon the floor a crust (面包皮) I cannot eat, for many a hungry one would think it quite a ________. Willful waste brings willful want, and I may live to say, ‘Oh, I wish I had that crust that once I ________.’”
This extremely courageous and ________ woman is my grandmother. My mother is a lot like her mother. Many times, my mother went ________ a new dress just so we could buy some great football shoes. Many times, my mother ________ that we should stay home instead of going on a summer vacation, just so we could ________ on a baseball all-star team. My mother is the greatest cook on Earth, a spiritual ________, a church and community servant, and the very best mom who ever lived. I’ve never ________ her complain about her difficulties, heartache, and pain. My dear, sweet mother truly is a perfect example. It’s the way it was and still should be.
1.A. successB. taskC. challengeD. job
2.A. thinkingB. complainingC. talkingD. dreaming
3.A. sentB. putC. cheatedD. changed
4.A. oppositeB. positiveC. wrongD. dark
5.A. valueB. ideaC. painD. result
6.A. ifB. althoughC. unlessD. since
7.A. needsB. comfortsC. wealthD. hope
8.A. importantB. interestingC. strangeD. natural
9.A. fearB. loveC. demandD. respect
10.A. userB. speakerC. exampleD. corrector
11.A. taughtB. chargedC. encouragedD. judged
12.A. usuallyB. neverC. evenD. also
13.A. pleasureB. beautyC. rewardD. treat
14.A. gave upB. picked upC. threw awayD. took away
15.A. strongB. curiousC. intelligentD. attractive
16.A. inB. beyondC. forD. without
17.A. insistedB. warnedC. remindedD. persuaded
18.A. goB. performC. exchangeD. play
19.A. engineerB. dancerC. guideD. worker
20.A. noticedB. heardC. discussedD. forgotten
How to overcome challenges in your life
We all face tough and difficult challenges in life. To overcome challenges you need to have that “never quit” attitude in life. If you develop it, you’ll overcome quite a bit.
Motivate yourself. Say “YES, I CAN.” The challenge should bring out the best of you in this situation. Slow it down, and think that process through. 1. If you develop that mindset (心态), you’ll get it done.
2. Remain calm when you’re facing serious troubles and problems in life. You have to recollect yourself, and calm down. You can’t solve problems when you’re panicking. Take a deep breath, relax, and slow it down. Think things through calmly.
Let failure and fear fuel you in a positive way. Everyone fails at times. If you fail the first, second, or third time, don’t give up. 3.
Learn what made you fail and overcome these challenges.
Simplify the challenge you’re facing. Make the challenge easier than it is. 4. As you get through each step, you develop more confidence and you believe you can get it done, and then you will.
Stay positive and confident. 5.You have to find out all the ways you can use to overcome it, and put them to full use with all your effort. It’s our own mental stability that’s the difficult part. When you do it mentally, you’ll actually be able to do it.
A. Stay calm and cool headed.
B. Think the best, not the worst.
C. Start by breaking it down into steps.
D. To overcome a challenge, you have to believe you can really do it.
E. Most people will avoid any challenge, because they’re scared of failing.
F. Develop that confidence in saying there’s no way you’re going to fail at this.
G. Pick yourself up, and learn from why you’ve failed, and move on in a positive direction.
The Regional Director of the National Heritage Conservation Commission (国家遗产保护委员会) Kagosi Mwamulowe said the Barotse Plains is unique and it deserves to be on the list of the World Heritage Sites.
Mr. Mwamulowe said the Barotse Plains deserves to be included on the World Heritage List because it has a rich cultural heritage which includes the burial sites of former kings.
The Director said he hoped that the landscape would be declared as a heritage site next year in June. He also said it was important to protect Zambia’s unique culture for education and entertainment.
Chief Natural Heritage Officer Muyumbwa Ndiyoi said there will be a lot of benefits when the Barotse Landscape is declared a World Heritage Site because it will attract many tourists and business investments will increase.
Mr. Ndiyoi said the site will also benefit young people as knowledge will be passed down from generation to generation.
He was reacting to a question from Nalolo District Labour Officer Jason Ngoma who wanted to know how the people of Western Province will benefit once the Barotse Landscape is declared a World Heritage Site.
And University of Zambia Lecturer Charles Namate said there is a need for the site to be included on the World Heritage List because 50 years after its independence Zambia only has one heritage site, which is the Victoria Falls.
Lecturer Namate said the Barotse Landscape was facing a lot of environmental degradation (恶化), and that’s why there is a need to recognize the value of its landscape and the memories of dead kings.
The National Heritage Conservation Commission together with the Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs are in Western Province to hold meetings with Heads of Government Departments. The Commission also held closed-door meetings with the Litunga Lubosi Imwiko II of the Barotse Royal Establishment.
1.What do we know about the Barotse Plains?
A. It has royal tombs.
B. It is being well protected.
C. It is not far from the Victoria Falls.
D. It’ll be listed as a World Heritage Site soon.
2.Mr. Ndiyoi believes that if the Barotse Plains is declared a World Heritage Site, ________.
A. it won’t benefit the people of Western Province
B. it will attract many foreign students and researchers
C. it will contribute to the local economic development
D. more people will start to learn about Zambia’s culture
3.In the text, Lecturer Namate expressed his concern about ________.
A. the future of the Barotse Plains
B. the development of Western Province
C. the development of tourism in Zambia
D. the environmental problems of the Barotse Plains
4.What can we infer from the text?
A. Zambia only has two World Heritage Sites.
B. The Barotse Landscape has been partly destroyed.
C. The Barotse Landscape issue is still being discussed.
D. Young people in Zambia don’t know about Barotse culture.
The other day when I was passing a clothing store, I fell in love with a skirt. I knew it would suit me best at first sight. But when I looked at the price tag (标签), I knew I had to give it up.
The love for beautiful clothes has been planted in my heart the day when I was born to be a woman. Several years ago I read an article in a magazine. The article stated that when a woman is at her best time, she is usually poor or tasteless, so she can’t get the right clothes; when she can afford to buy the clothes she likes, she often finds that they do not suit her anymore.
On the way home, I was quite disturbed by such thoughts. It was just a pity, like many other pities. I thought to myself this way. But when I was about to enter the building where I was living, I saw the big mirror placed in the entrance. I saw a girl in it who was in cheap but cleanly washed sweater and jeans. She was rather young, healthy and energetic. For quite a while I was touched by what I had seen in the mirror.
Then I almost forgot the tale: A person without shoes cried until he saw a man without feet. Being young without good clothes is like the person without shoes. I should have felt grateful that I haven’t lost my feet.
1.How did the author feel when she decided not to buy the skirt?
A. Embarrassed. B. Wise.
C. Relieved. D. Regretful.
2.The underlined word “She” in Paragraph 3 refers to ________.
A. the author’s friend B. the author
C. the author’s roommate D. a stranger
3.Why was the author touched by what she saw in the mirror?
A. She didn’t feel at ease when looking into a mirror.
B. She was reminded of her devotion to beauty.
C. She came to realize what she really possessed.
D. She never thought over the other side of a person.
4.We can learn from the text that the author considered her love for beautiful clothes as ________.
A. natural B. funny C. silly D. simple
Modern inventions have speeded up people’s loves amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boats (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientist; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.
However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.
1.The new products become more and more time-saving because ________.
A. our love of speed seems never-ending
B. time is limited
C. the prices are increasingly high
D. the manufactures boast a lot
2.What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. Imaginary life.
B. Simple life in the past.
C. Times of inventions.
D. Time for constant activity.
3.What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?
A. Critical B. Objective.
C. Optimistic. D. Negative.
4.What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. The present and past times.
B. Machinery and human beings.
C. Imaginations and inventions.
D. Modern technology and its influence.
