John Snow was a famous doctor in London-so1.,indeed,that he2.Queen Victoria as her personal physician. But he became3.when he thought about helping ordinary people4.to cholera.This was the deadly disease of its day.Neither its cause nor its5.was understood.So many thousands of terrified people died every time there was an outbreak.John Snow wanted to face the challenge and solve this problem.
First there was England.Wales was6.to it in the thirteenth century.Now when people7.to England you find Wales8.as well.Next England and Wales were joined to Scotland in the seventeenth century and the name was changed to "Great Britain".Happily this was accomplished without9.when King James of Scotland became King of England and Wales as well.Finally the English government tried in the early twentieth century to form the United Kingdom by getting Ireland10.in the same peaceful way.
If you have a watch,don't repair it!I know it____.Once I had a beautiful watch.And this watch____perfect time. But one night it happened that I forgot to____it up.Next morning I went to a watchmaker as I wanted my perfect watch to____by the exact time.The watchmaker examined my watch and said:“The regulator（校准器）is to be pushed up____your watch is four minutes____.”
I tried to stop him,tried to____him understand that my watch kept perfect time,but he did not listen to me and pushed the regulator.
My beautiful watch began to gain time.It____faster and faster day by day.By the end of the second month it ____all the clocks and watches of the town far behind.
What did I have to do?To take it to another watchmaker to be regulated.I expected him to regulate the watch immediately____he asked me to come in a week's time.When at last I took my watch from him it began to____down. And I began to be late for trains,business appointments and even missed my dinners.
Now I went to____watchmaker.While I waited for him to repair my poor watch,he____it to pieces and said that he could finish this work____three or four days.I could do nothing but ____. That time my watch went for half a day and then stopped.
So I kept____my watch from one watchmaker to another for a considerable period of time.And as a result of it the cleverest man in the world could not____the time by my watch.The thing was getting____.My watch had____ two hundred dollars originally but I paid for repairs more than two hundred.At last I decided to buy____watch,which I did.
1.A. for reality B. for truth C. for certain D. for certainty
2.A. kept B. told C. observed D. struck
3.A. tum B. wind C. pick D. put
4.A. be turned B. be taken C. be put D. be set
5.A. as B. as if C. when D. if
6.A. fast B. slowly C. faster D. slow
7.A. get B. persuade C. make D. explain
8.A. gained B. lost C. went D. won
9.A. had remained B. had left C. had stayed D. had fallen
10.A. however B. and C. but D. therefore
11.A. go B. walk C. slow D. take
12.A. the third B. the second C. the first D. the fourth
13.A. broke B. took C. tore D. cut
14.A. after B. before C. over D. in
15.A. to agree B. agree C. agreeing D. agreed
16.A. taking B. bringing C. carrying D. fetching
17.A. recognize B. tell C. know D. understand
18.A. seriously B. pleasant C. badly D. serious
19.A. spent B. took C. cost D. paid
20.A. another B. the other C. one D. one more
Reading books is one of the best hobbies.It not only helps you pass your time but also helps you increase your knowledge in a meaningful manner.1.Here we will give you a few tips that can help you.
●Fall into the habit of borrowing books to read.
This is a very old school practice but still it can be highly effective（有效的）.When you borrow a book,there is obviously a deadline（期限）set.2.
●Read everywhere.
Keep a book in your bag and read it anywhere you go.This will help you to pass your time in a very productive manner.3.Anyway,you can read your book 24 hours a day.
●4.
This can easily be described as a new school technique.You can read out to your brother or sister and this will enable you to finish your book as well as well as increase the knowledge and understanding of your brother or sister.
●Choose your books very carefully.
5.Thus choose your books very carefully in order to enjoy your time and also finish your book effectively.If you choose a good book that can keep you interested a for a longer period of time,there is no way that you are going to leave it incomplete.
A.Read out to someone else.
B.Realize the importance of reading books.
C.Therefore,it is necessary to develop the reading habit.
D.Find an excuse to read every day just by visiting book clubs.
E.Yes,life is too short to read a book that doesn't impress you.
F.It doesn't matter whether you are traveling or are about to sleep.
G.This can encourage you to read it often to finish the book on time.
Our brains work in complex and strange ways.There are some people who can calculate the day of the week for any given date in 40,000 years,but who cannot add two plus two.Others can perform complex classical piano pieces after hearing them once,but they cannot read or write.
Dr.J.Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887.He called these people idiot savants.An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental impairment（损伤）,such as in autism（孤独症，自闭症）or retardation.At the same time,the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills,which are unusual for most people.The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics,or having a photographic memory.
One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr.Benjamin Rush, an American doctor.His patient,Thomas Fuller,was brought to Virginia as a slave in 1724.It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years,17 days,and 12 hours has lived 2,210,500,800 seconds. Despite this ability,he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write.
Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s.Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words,but he played 5,000 musical pieces beautifully.
In the excellent movie Rain Man,made in 1988 and available on video cassette,Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise,with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly.
Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment.Yet not all brain impairment leads to savant skills.Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills.However few people wish to participate in such experiments.There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain.The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate.Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots.
1.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. Idiot savants have areas of outstanding abilities.
B. Human Beings have complicated thinking process.
C. The brains of the idiot savants are partly impaired.
D. The reasons why people have wonderful skills vary.
2.Which of the following can be done by Rain Man?
A. He can play wonderful pieces of classical music.
B. He can guess out exactly the length of a mads life.
C. He can memorize the contents of the pictures fast.
D. He can count matches dropped on the floor quickly.
3.What can you infer from the passage?
A. Idiot savants have real talents for art and math.
B. Dr.Down is the first person who found idiot savants.
C. Few people wish to risk becoming savants by brain operations.
D. Intentional left brain impairments will surely lead to idiot savants.
Many Years ago three soldiers, hungry and tired of battle, came upon a small village. The villagers, suffering a bad harvest and the many years of war, quickly hid what little they had to eat and met the three in the village square, shaking their heads and sighing, “Well, we are starving.” The soldiers communicated with each other quietly and then the first soldier turned to the villagers. “Your poor fields have left you nothing to share, so we will share what little we have: the secret of making soup from stones.”
Naturally the villagers were intrigued and soon a fire was built to the villager’s greatest pot, and then the soldiers dropped in three smooth stones.
‘“Now this will be a fine soup,” said the second soldier, “but a handful of salt and some parsley (香芹) would make it wonderful!” Up jumped a villager, crying “What a piece of luck! I’ve just remembered where some has been left!”
And off she ran, returning with parsley. As the pot was boiling, the memory of the villagers improved: soon carrots, beef and cream had found their way into the great pot. They ate and danced and sang well into the night, thrilled about the feast and their new-found friends. In the morning the three soldiers awoke, finding all the villagers standing before them. At their feet lay a bag of the village’s best bread and cheese. “You have given us the greatest gift.” said an elder, “and we shall never forget.” The third soldier turned to the crowd, and said, “There is no sccret, but this is certain: people working together can accomplish great things.” At last the light dawned on villagers. Off the soldiers wandered, down the road.
1.The villagers hid food at first mainly because .
A. they didn’t want to share their little food
B. they had a poor harvest that year
C. they had nothing to eat at all
D. they were sick of soldiers
2.What does the underlined word “intrigued” probably mean?
A. Unwilling. B. Satisfied.
C. Interested. D. Generous.
3.What can we learn from the text?
A. The stones used to make the soap were magical.
B. The villagers were grateful to the soldiers at last.
C. The villagers provided nothing other than the soup.
D. The stone soup didn’t agree with most of the villagers.
4.What’s the secret of making stone soup?
A. To be patient. B. To share.
C. To be honest. D. To forgive.
There have been times in my life when I felt satisfied.Sometimes it was because I achieved a goal I had set. Sometimes it was because I overcame a fear or passed a test.However,every time I feel that way,I learn again that full isn't full.
When I was a little boy,I felt that the love I had for my mom and dad,and the love they had for me,just filled me up.Surely in a house full of nine people lived a young boy who loved and was loved as fully as a person could stand. Imagine my surprise as I then extended（扩大影响）that love to my grandparents,my uncle & aunt,cousins,etc.As I grew older,I met and married a beautiful woman that I thought entirely filled me up with love.I could not imagine there would be any more room.Then a few short years later we added one daughter and then another daughter to our family.Again,I had room to love and be loved.See what I mean?Every time I feel that life and love are as good as they can get,they get better.
There is a lesson here for us.We ought to always have a heart that is open to expanding.To do more,love more, live more,learn more,overcome more,forgive more and the list could go on.Each of us knows 100 stories about men and women who have proved the impossible to be possible.Every day we stand at the crossroad and must decide if we are going to be a better person today than we were yesterday.
You are not full yet.Young or old,there is still room for more.
1.What does the underlined sentence mean?
A. I can do it in a better way.
B. These difficulties are really too hard.
C. Something disappointing always happens.
D. There always seems to be a little more room.
2.According to Para.2,what did the author mistakenly believe at first?
A. His room was not big enough.
B. He would only have one child.
C. Caring for families was not his strength.
D. Getting married would be his final happiness.
3.This text is most probably taken from a________.
A. TV guide B. news report
C. life magazine D. job advertisement
