Facebook CEO Zuckerberg just had a baby girl named Max, and to honor the occasion, he’s giving away the majority of his wealth. In the letter1.(write) by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, to2.(they) new baby girl, he announced the birth of his first child and the3.(create) of the Chan Zuckerberg Fund,4.will focus on curing disease, connecting people and5.(build) strong communities.
“For your generation to live in6.better world, there is so much more our generation can do,” Zuckerberg wrote. “Today your mother and I are committing to spend our lives doing our small part to help solve these challenges.” The couple7.(donate) nearly all of their Facebook stock to the cause. “We will give 99% of our Facebook shares-currently about $45 billion-to advance this8.(value) mission,” he wrote. “We know this is a small contribution compared9.all the resources and talents already working on these issues. But we want to do10.we can, working along with many others.”
I work as a volunteer for an organization that helps the poor in Haiti. Recently I took my son Barrett there for a week, hoping to______him.
Before setting out, I told Barrett this trip would be tiring and______. For the first two days, he said almost nothing. I worried the trip was too______for a 17-year-old. Then, on Day three, as we were______over high rocky mountains, he turned to me and grinned(咧嘴笑), “Pretty hard.”
After that there was no turning back. A five-year-old girl, wearing a dress several sizes______large and broken shoes, followed Barrett around, mesmerized(着迷). He couldn’t stop______. Later he said______. “I wish I could speak French.” I was______-this from a boy who hated and______French classes throughout school.
Usually silent, he______Gaby, our host, and kept asking questions about the country and its people. He blossomed(活泼起来).
____, the moment that really took______breath away occurred in a village deep in the mountains. I was______a woman villager for an article. 135 centimeters tall, she was small in figure but strong in______. Through determination, she had learned to read and write, and______to become part of the leadership of the______.
Learning her story, Barrett was as______as I by this tiny woman’s achievements. His eyes were wet and there was a______of love and respect on his face. He had finally understood the importance of my work.
When leaving for home, Barrett even offered to stay______as a volunteer. My insides suddenly felt struck. This______achieved all I’d expected. Soon he will celebrate his 18th birthday. He’ll be a man.
1.A. comfort B. please C. attract D. educate
2.A. rough B. dangerous C. troublesome D. violent
3.A. little B. much C. fast D. slow
4.A. moving B. running C. climbing D. looking
5.A. too B. very C. even D. so
6.A. joking B. crying C. shouting D. smiling
7.A. patiently B. regretfully C. lightly D. cheerfully
8.A. ashamed B. disappointed C. determined D. surprised
9.A. took up B. went in for C. fought against D. called off
10.A. befriended B. disregarded C. avoided D. recognized
11.A. Thus B. Even C. Meanwhile D. However
12.A. our B. his C. my D. her
13.A. asking B. interviewing C. arranging D. describing
14.A. brain B. wish C. will D. health
15.A. appeared B. struggled C. hesitated D. failed
16.A. village B. city C. organization D. state
17.A. pleased B. bored C. touched D. puzzled
18.A. combination B. composition C. connection D. satisfaction
19.A. in B. behind C. out D. away
20.A. interview B. flight C. article D. trip
Everyone can benefit a lot from reading books. The following is about the various benefits of reading books.
1.Whenever you read something, you learn information that you otherwise wouldn’t have known. It can be a fact about history or a theory you didn’t know existed. If you want to learn new words, reading books is a great way to enlarge your vocabulary.
2.Similar to solving puzzles, reading books allows your mind to practice its processing skills. Going without books for too long will turn your mind into a whirl(混乱).
One of the primary benefits of reading books is its ability to develop your critical thinking skills.3.Wherever you are faced with a similar problem in real life, your mind is able to put its mystery-solving skills to a test.
One of the real benefits of reading books is that the information in it can be accessed over and over again. For example, reading a cookbook allows you the luxury of reviewing the procedures whenever you need to.4.Don’t even think about writing the information down because you may lose the paper you wrote down on sooner or later.
These are just some of the wonderful benefits of reading books.5.If you can’t even go outside, you can download free e-books on line and read them on your computer. That way, you can set how advantageous reading can be for yourself.
A. Reading books keeps your mind active
B. You can improve your memory by reading
C. Reading books provides you with new knowledge
D. Following a recipe from a cooking show will be difficult
E. Reading mystery novels, for example, sharpens your mind
F. Reading keeps your mind in good condition
G. Why don’t you drop by the bookstore or library and pick a book up
In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh(法老) treated the poor message runner like a prince when he arrived at the palace, if he brought good news. However, if the exhausted runner had the misfortune to bring the pharaoh unhappy news, his head was cut off.
Shades of that spirit spread over today’s conversations. Once a friend and I packed up some peanut butter and sandwiches for an outing. As we walked light-heartedly out the door, picnic basket in hand, a smiling neighbor looked up at the sky and said, ”Oh boy, bad day for a picnic. The weatherman says it’s going to rain.”I wanted to strike him on the face with the peanut butter and sandwiches. Not for his stupid weather report, for his while!
Several months ago I was racing to catch a bus. As I breathlessly put my handful of cash across the Greyhound counter, the sales agent said with a broad smile ,”Oh that bus left five minutes ago.” Dreams of head-cutting!
It’s not the news that makes someone angry. It’s the unsympathetic attitude with which it’s delivered. Everyone must give bad news from time to time, and winning professionals do it with the proper attitude. A doctor advising a patient that she needs an operation does it in a caring way. A boss informing an employee he didn’t get the job takes on a sympathetic tone. Big winners know, when delivering any bad news, they should share the feeling of the receiver.
Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this. When you’re tired from a long flight, has a hotel clerk cheerfully said that your room isn’t ready yet? When you had your heart set on the toast beef, has your waiter mainly told you that he just served the last piece? It makes you as traveler or diner want to land your fist right on their unsympathetic faces.
Had my neighbor told me of the upcoming rainstorm with sympathy, I would have appreciated his warming .Had the Greyhound salesclerk sympathetically informed me that my bus had already left, I probably would have said, ”Oh, that’s all right. I’ll catch the next one.” Big winners, when they bear bad news ,deliver bombs with the emotion the bombarded(被轰炸的)person is sure to have.
1.In Paragraph 1, the writer tells the story of the pharaoh to .
A. make a comparison B. introduce a topic
C. describe a scene D. offer an argument
2.In the writer’s opinion, his neighbor was .
A. friendly B. warm-hearted
C. not considerate D. not helpful
3.From “Dreams of head-cutting!” in Paragraph 3, we learn that the writer .
A. was mad at the sales agent
B. was reminded of the cruel pharaoh
C. wished that the sales agent would have had dreams
D. dreamed of cutting the sales agent’s head that night
4.What is the main idea of the text?
A. Delivering bad news properly is important in communication
B. Helping others sincerely is the key to business success
C. Receiving bad news requires great courage
D. Learning ancient traditions can be useful
The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place
Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale(秤)instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don't have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.
1.From Paragraph 1, we learn that .
A. diet products fail to bring out people's potential
B. people have difficulty in choosing diet products
C. diet products are misleading people
D. people are fed up with diet products
2.One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to .
A. try out a variety of diet foods
B. hesitate before they enjoy diet foods
C. pay attention to their own eating habits
D. watch their weight rather than their diet
3.In Paragraph 3, “gain comes without pain” probably means .
A. losing weight is effortless
B. it costs a lot to lose weight
C. diet products bring no pain
D. diet products are free from calories
4.Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products .
A. are over-consumed
B. lack basic nutrients
C. are short of chemicals
D. provide too much energy
Whenever we see a button, we are eager to press it because we know something will happen. This is true in most cases, for example on a doorbell and on the “on/off” button on the TV. But some buttons are actually fake, like the “close” button on a lift.
Many people are in the habit of pressing the “close” button because they don’t have the patience to wait for the lift doors to shut. But lifts’ “close” buttons are a complete scam(骗局), at least in the US-the doors will not close any faster no matter how hard you press.
It started in the 1990s when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in the US, making sure that all lifts stayed open long enough so that people with disabilities could enter. Only US firefighters and repairmen can use the buttons to speed up the door-closing process if they have a code or special keys.
But to normal lift riders, the buttons aren’t completely useless. According to psychologists, fake buttons can actually make you feel better by offering you a sense of control.
“Perceived (能够感知的)control is very important. It reduces stress and increases well-being,” Ellen J. Langer, a psychology professor, said, “having a lack of control is associated with depression.”
Experts have revealed that a lot of buttons that don’t do anything exist in our lives for this same purpose. For example, many offices in the US have fake thermostats(温度调节器) because people tend to feel better when they think they can control the temperature in their workspace.
But psychologists found it interesting that even when people are aware of these little “white lies”, they still continue to push fake buttons because as long as the doors eventually close, it is considered to be worth the effort.
“That habit is here to stay,” John Kounios, a psychology professor, said. “Even though I have real doubts about the traffic light buttons, I always press them. After all, I’ve got nothing else to do while waiting. So why not press the button in the hope that this one will work?”
1.What was the author’s main purpose in writing the article?
A. To analyze the functions of fake buttons
B. To describe some different kinds of fake buttons
C. To explain the advantages and disadvantages of fake buttons
D. To explore people’s different habits when it comes to pushing buttons
2.In America, the “close” buttons on lifts .
A. are fake for the convenience of disabled people
B. work only when people press them hard for a while
C. were specially designed to give people a sense of control
D. cannot speed up the process of closing the door in any case
3.The underlined part “for this same purpose” in Paragraph 6 refers to .
A. making people more patient
B. giving people perceived control
C. helping people to build up confidence
D. making people with depression feel better
4.According to John Kounios, people who press fake buttons .
A. should give up this habit
B. probably do so to kill time
C. consider what they do to be meaningless
D. don’t know that what they press is fake
