Have you ever thought about the best meal you have ever eaten? For many people, it isn’t just about the quality of the food; it’s also about great memories of a particular vacation or the person it was shared 1.. We asked 100 famous chefs from around the world 2. their best meals were, and we got some 3. (interest) answers.
As the researchers expected, 30% of the chefs 4. ( survey ) said that their best meal as a kid was still what they liked the most as an adult. 20% 5. (consider) a meal in a fancy restaurant as the best one in their lives, and another 10% said that a meal while on vacation with their wife 6. husband was the best of all time. 15% said that a simple meal that they often cook at home ranked 7. (high) than any other meals, and the same number said that their best dish was something they make where they work.
8. (surprising), 10% of these chefs said that their favorite meal of their entire live was at a fast food restaurant! These best 9. (cook) in the world would pick McDonald’s or KFC if they had the choice of what 10. (eat).
第四部分 写作（百强校英语解析团队专供）（共两节，满分35分）
Big City Bus Driver
When I was 20, I went to stay with a friend for two weeks in Vancouver. My friend worked during the day, so I decided to go ____ on my own. I knew where I was and where I wanted to go, the Vancouver Aquarium（温哥华水族馆）. It sounded ____.
But soon I was completely ____. I boarded a bus, figuring it must do a circle, right? I rode a good half hour before becoming impatient and then got ____. I walked quite a while, up and down various blocks, but had no idea where I was.
I’ve lived in a tiny town all my life, rarely leaving it. Being a “small town girl”, I admit I’m fairly ____ about city life. People at home always told me city people were cold and unconcerned about others, so I was afraid to ____ to anyone.
I got on another bus, and then another again. Finally, after hours, I decided to get on ONE bus, and stay on ___ I recognized something. I rode over half an hour. Nothing ever seemed ____. When I became the only passenger on the bus, I began to get ____. I had no cellphone, and didn’t even ____ my friend’s office telephone number.
As I was about to give up and leave the bus, the driver asked ____ I wanted to go. I told him the aquarium, and he laughed, saying his bus wouldn’t go anywhere near. I ____ back in my seat, really afraid and upset. He asked where I was from, and I told him what had happened and now I just wanted to go back to my friend’s place.
__ , the driver pulled the bus over and called me to the front. He gave me detailed ____ as to which buses to take, and how to understand the bus system. He ____ printed the bus tickets I needed from his machine.
I was shocked. He spent a good twenty minutes ____ me, telling me everything I needed to know. Before giving me the tickets, I thanked him repeatedly, and asked him how much I ____ for tickets, “Nothing. Just get yourself to your friend’s home.”
Thanks to his ____, I was able to make my way back to my friend’s house. I don’t know what I would have done if that driver had not taken the ____ to help me. What people had told me was not true. City people ____, just like the driver. I never did learn his name, but I’ll always remember him.
1.A. marching B. shopping C. cycling D. exploring
2.A. simple B. special C. far D. true
3.A. late B. tired C. alone D. lost
4.A. up B. off C. over D. about
5.A. guilty B. impatient C. ignorant D. serious
6.A. walk B. nod C. talk D. write
7.A. because B. until C. though D. after
8.A. familiar B. interesting C. necessary D. ordinary.
9.A. scared B. surprised C. angry D. curious
10.A. call B. notice C. tell D. know
11.A. how B. why C. whether D. where
12.A. looked B. sank C. dropped D. kept
13.A. Obviously B. Amazingly C. Gradually D. Usually
14.A. appointments B. positions C. instructions D. requirements
15.A. only B. ever C. almost D. even
16.A. with B. on C. at D. to
17.A. bought B. owed C. ordered D. charged
18.A. courage B. honesty C. kindness D. trust
19.A. time B. pain C. place D. risk
20.A. serve B. behave C. care D. understand
In all our lives we must make choices. You make choices from the time you get out of bed in the morning until you go to sleep at night. What time to get up? What to wear? What to eat? You also make more significant choices when you graduate from high school. 1. College? Technical training?
No matter the size of the decision, the common thread in all of them is that they involve an opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is your next best alternative—your second choice. For example, it’s a Saturday night, and you are trying to decide among going to the movies, hanging out at a friend s house or going to the football game. 2. What is your second choice? If it is the football game, then that is your opportunity cost.
Opportunity cost is important. When you make a certain choice, it forces you to think more critically about ail of the abandoned choices. By recognizing opportunity cost, you can decide whether your decision is worth it.
3. As a high school senior, you face several options, including going to college, going to technical school, or going to the work force. If you choose college, the opportunity cost is losing what could have been purchased or saved with the money spent on tuition（学费）, housing, books, etc. for four years. 4. You would also lose four years’ worth of income and experience that you could have earned if you had gone straight to work.
However, it is still the case that college graduates earn more than high school graduates. And the unemployment rate among college graduates is less than that of high school graduates. 5. But, like
all decisions, it is one that should be arrived at only after looking at the costs—including the opportunity cost一and considering the follow-up question: is it worth it?
A. Will you go straight to work?
B. What causes opportunity cost?
C. But that’s not the end of the costs.
D. Suppose you decide to go to the movies.
E. If you give up college, what do you lose?
F. A perfect example is the decision to go to college.
G. For many students, going on to college is a wise decision.
When American soldiers return home from war with disabilities, they often suffer twice—first from their combat injuries, next from the humiliation（羞辱）of government dependency.
Wounded veterans（老兵）learn they have two basic choices: They can receive almost $ 3 ,000 a month in disability benefits along with medical care and access to other various welfare programs, or they can try to find a job. Especially in this economy, it’s no wonder that many find that first option hard to turn down.
Mark Duggan, an economics professor at Stanford University, reports that enrollment in the U. S. veterans’ disability programs rose from 2.3 million in 2001 to 3.9 million in 2014. The percentage of veterans receiving benefits doubled, from 8.9% in 2001 to 18% in 2014. Disability services for veterans now consume $59 billion.
In the 1980s and 1990s, male veterans were more likely to be in the labor force than nonveterans. But since 2000, that has changed dramatically. Now there is a 4% gap between veteran and non-veteran labor participation, with veteran participation lower.
Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, the founder of The Mission Continues, explains how soldiers who served their country are transformed into welfare receivers who live off their country.
“When veterans come home from war they are going through a tremendous change in identity, ” he says. “Then the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and others, encourage them to view themselves as disabled.” By the time they come to Greitens’ non-profit organization, “We meet a number of veterans who see themselves as charity cases and are not sure anymore what they have to contribute.”
There are also more practical factors driving the disability boom. One is the expansion of qualification criteria. In 2000, for instance, type 2 diabetes was added as a disability because of evidence linking exposure to Agent Orange with the onset of the disease. Heart disease has also been added to the list.
Another possible factor is that younger veterans seem less against welfare than their parents’ generation. Veterans who have served since the 1990s are much more likely to sign up for disability than their older counterparts; 1 in 4 younger veterans is on disability, versus just 1 in 7 of those over age 54.
We shouldn’t go back to the bad old days when veterans were afraid to admit weakness. But Lt. Col. Daniel Gade is one of many veterans who think our disability system is harmful, psychologically, to former soldiers. Gade lost his leg in combat in 2005 and now teaches at West Point. He recently gave a talk to disabled veterans at Ft. Carson, in which he urged them to rejoin the workforce.
“People who stay home because they are getting paid enough to get by on disability are worse off,” he warned. “They are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. They are more likely to live alone.”
What a waste of human potential, especially since most veterans on disability still have their prime working years ahead of them when they’re discharged（遣退）.
We could solve this problem by changing the way we view-and label-veterans with disabilities. As Gade noted in a recent article, “Veterans should be viewed as resources, not as damaged goods.” He recommended that “efforts to help veterans should begin by recognizing their abilities rather than focusing only on then disabilities, and should serve the ultimate aim of moving wounded soldiers to real self-sufficiency.”
On a more practical note, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs could reallocate（再分配）resources to spend more on job training and less on disability. Current placement programs are sadly inadequate.
We are good at sending soldiers off to war. Yet when these young men and women return home, they are essentially told, “We’ll give you enough for a reasonably comfortable life, but we won’t help you find a job.”
It is unreasonable that we are condemning thousands of young veterans who served their country to life on the dole（失业救济金）rather than enabling them to re-enter the workforce with the necessary accommodations.
1.What do more and more wounded veterans appear to do nowadays?
A. Depend on the government for a living.
B. Be treated badly in most workplaces.
C. Ask the government for more dole.
D. Spend more time on job hunting.
2.How does Mark Duggan prove his opinion in the passage?
A. By listing figures. B. By giving examples.
C. By performing experiments. D. By analyzing cause and effect.
3.What did veterans use to do in the 1980s and 1990s?
A. Refuse to find jobs. B. Be a main labor resource.
C. Have much trouble finding jobs. D. Receive many disability benefits.
4.One of the reasons why there are more disabled veterans is that .
A. damage from the war is greater than ever
B. veterans have suffered much more than ever
C. the scale of disabilities has been broadened
D. older veterans aren’t afraid to admit their disability
5.In Cade’s opinion, the veterans who receive welfare from the government tend to _______.
A. save more trouble for the government
B. lead a miserable and unhappy life
C. increasingly depend on the government
D. suffer the humiliation of their combat injuries
In his book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, the Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell explains how a trend can take many forms. It can be a general change in social behaviour, an idea or a fashion. However, why do some trends catch on and others not? What makes one particular brand of training shoes suddenly become the must-have product? How do people find out about trends and what makes people want to buy into them? Is it simply a question of keeping up with other people?
In his new work, Gladwell explore the moment when something becomes common and how products, ideas, messages and forms of behaviour spread. He looks at the reasons why trends are similar in the way they develop to outbreaks of disease, or medical epidemics （流行病）.
Epidemics, like trends, start in a very small way, maybe from a single person with a virus’ then spread very quickly until they take over the population and appear to be everywhere. Eventually, they will slow down gradually or die out suddenly. Gladwell shows how these changes happen not gradually but at one sudden moment.
Gladwell identifies three types of people who are influential in the development of these kinds of social epidemics:
Connectors are people in a community who have wide social circles. They know a lot of people and like to introduce people to each other. The people they know often come from a variety of social, cultural, professional and economic circles.
Mavens are people with a lot of knowledge or experts in a particular field. They wish to pass on their knowledge to others. Mavens collect and gather information so are the first to pick up on new trends.
Salesmen are people with charisma（魅力）. They have a “soft” influence over people rather than actual power. This means they are influential because people want to imitate them.
Overall, Gladwell’s book is a thought-provoking（引人深思的）read for anyone interested in the origins of trends. What’s more, he writes in a clear style so even the most difficult ideas are easy to understand.
1.What do we know about Gladwell?
A. He is a productive North American writer.
B. He has written many books on the subject of trends.
C. He thinks trends develop in the same way as illnesses.
D. He believes there are three types of people in the world.
2.According to the text, connectors .
A. are very social persons
B. often follow others
C. know many people from the same circle
D. are knowledgeable and experienced
3.What do we learn from the text?
A. Salesmen try to control other people using their power.
B. Mavens quickly become aware of changes in fashions.
C. Connectors and Mavens try to get their information across.
D. Gladwell’s book is interesting but hard to understand for readers.
Americans are more stressed than ever, according to an American Psychological Association survey, and nearly one-third of the people say stress impacts their physical or mental health. If you have any of these symptoms, your stress might be making you sick. Here’s how to battle against them.
If you’ve never suffered from headaches but suddenly your head is constantly striking, you might be too stressed. Stress releases chemicals that can cause changes to nerves and blood vessels（血管）in the brain, which brings on a headache. Stress can cause them or make them worse. It’s also common for your muscles to tense up when you’re stressed, which can also cause a headache. WHAT TO DO:
If you don’t want to take medicine, try spreading lavender（薰衣草）oil on your temples（太阳穴）when a headache starts. |
Stress can make you mentally sick, too. Too much of the stress hormone cortisol（皮质醇）can make it harder to concentrate, causing memory problems as well as anxiety or depression says Dr. Levine. WHAT TO DO:
Relax until you regain your concentration. Practice closing your eyes and breathing in and out slowly, concentrating only on your breath. |
Losing a few strands of hair is normal—old hair follicles（囊）are replaced by new ones over time—but stress can disturb that cycle. Significant stress pushes a large number of hair follicles into what’s called a resting stage and then a few months later those hairs fall out, according to MayoClinic. org. Stress can also cause the body’s resistant system to attack your hair follicles, resulting in hair loss. WHAT TO DO:
Be patient. Once your stress level returns to normal, your hair should start growing back. |
1.If you’re stressed, you might have one of the following symptoms EXCEPT that .
A. you keep getting headaches B. you always have a cold
C. your hair is falling out D. your brain feels confused
2.Which of the following is suggested if your brain goes out of focus?
A. Breathing slowly with your eyes closed.
B. Waiting until your brain returns to normal.
C. Spreading lavender oil on your temples.
D. Relaxing and attacking your brain softly.
3.What will happen once we get over our stress according to the passage?
A. Our hair starts falling out and then grows back.
B. Our body’s resistant system attacks your hair follicles.
C. Our hair starts growing again.
D. A serious headache starts.
