I love a good murder mystery. It is so ______ to watch or read an exciting and interesting detective story and try to solve the ______ yourself. Agatha Christie is undoubtedly queen of the detective story considering she ______ over eighty books. Many people have fallen in love with her ______ ---Hercule Poirot, a famous Belgian detective and Miss Marple, an old lady who is also an amateur ______.
As I am a big ______ of Agatha Christie, was excited to ______ her house in Devon called Greenway. I travelled to her ______ by steam train. We went through a dark tunnel and there was lots of smoke. It was a ______ setting for a murder like in her famous novel Murder on the Orient Express.______, all the passengers arrived safely!
After a pleasant walk through the woods, I ______ the splendid house. I did a tour and I loved seeing where she wrote her ______. Many first editions were on display in a revolving (旋转的) bookcase. However, my ______ part of the estate (庄园) was the boathouse. There was a lovely view of the river ______ the boathouse also served a more special purpose inspiration for a crime ______. In Christie s novel, Dead Man’s Folly a girl’s body is ______ in the boathouse. They even ______ the TV adaptation of the book at Greenway.
I really ______ my visit to Greenway. It was such a ______ place and I was interested in seeing where Agatha Christie was ______ to write so many exciting stories.
1.A. upset B. serious C. successful D. fun
2.A. doubt B. problem C. murder D. method
3.A. read B. wrote C. saw D. contributed
4.A. creations B. inventions C. discussions D. reasons
5.A. guard B. detective C. creator D. spy
6.A. guide B. fellow C. fan D. gift
7.A. watch B. rebuild C. explode D. visit
8.A. house B. family C. hometown D. site
9.A. perfect B. central C. colorful D. direct
10.A. Sadly B. Fortunately C. Hopefully D. Surprisingly
11.A. fetched B. got C. reached D. mentioned
12.A. posts B. poems C. letters D. books
13.A. personal B. useful C. rewarding D. favourite
14.A. or B. and C. but D. for
15.A. scenery B. sight C. view D. scene
16.A. dissolved B. tended C. found D. buried
17.A. developed B. filmed C. adapted D. affected
18.A. enjoyed B. treasured C. exploited D. focused
19.A. shocking B. beautiful C. skilful D. helpful
20.A. inspired B. disappointed C. marked D. honored
What is happiness? When you can feel inner peace and satisfaction, you are happy. 1. This usually happens when we do something we love or achieve something that we value. It is our opinions that make us feel happy or unhappy. All of us constantly go through various situations or conditions, but we do not have to let them influence our reactions and feelings.2..
Try hard to make a change of the way you look at things.3. That means looking at the good and positive side of every situation. Pay attention to solutions, not problems. Listen to relaxing and uplifting music. Watch funny and interesting programs that make you laugh.
Always look at what you have done and not at what you haven’t done. Look at what you can do, not at what you cannot do. Each day do at least one act to make others happy. When you make someone happy, you’ll become happy, and then people will try to make you happy.4. On the contrary, be happy for their happiness. Communicate with happy people and try to learn from them to be happy. Remember ? do your best to stay detached (冷静的) when things do not occur as intended and desired. Detachment has much to do with inner peace.5.
A. I’ve never regretted it.
B. Always look at the bright side.
C. Do not envy people who are happy.
D. Stop asking for everyone’s approval.
E. Inner peace can lead to happiness, so smile more often.
F. Here are a few tips for increasing happiness in daily life.
G. It is usually experienced at a special moment.
To me, inspirations mean to put my thoughts, heart, and creations into my jewelry. Sometimes I become so inspired with what I’m working on that I can finish one or more sets in less than an hour. Because of that feeling, I have named my jewelry collection “Inspirations”.
I am a 17-year-old senior with sickle-cell anemia. With this, I am in and out of the hospital a lot. So I started making jewelry a year ago when I was in the hospital. I really needed something to do, so I was introduced to jewelry making by a child life expert.
One day while lying in my hospital bed, I decided to get up and go to the patient’s playroom, and look through the craft designs. That was when I became inspired to design my jewelry collection, and named it “Inspirations”.
When I’m not sick, I try to keep a positive attitude through reading, schoolwork, and craft activities. Even though it’s a lot of work, I try to stay focus at all times. When I need a break or just to be free I turn to my craft activities. This is a way to ease my mind and it always helps me to especially get through those stressful times.
I am getting very excited about graduating next year and preparing myself for college. Who knows my collection of Inspirations, would take me to the places I always dreamed of? I may see celebrities I admire and even sell them some of my beautiful “Inspirations”. If they wear my “Inspirations,” it will become well known and more demanding. What a great way to make some extra money for college! I never thought being sick would bring me “Inspirations”. I want people to look beyond my illness and see the creations I’ve made in my collection called “Inspirations”.
1.What does “sickle-cell anemia” refer to?
A. A hospital. B. A place.
C. An illness. D. A doctor.
2.Why did the writer name his jewelry collection “Inspirations”?
A. Because it was designed by a patient.
B. Because it was designed in the hospital.
C. Because its designs came from inspiration.
D. Because the designs were very various and fresh.
3.What can we infer from the passage?
A. The writer is a senior high school student.
B. The writer will graduate from college next year.
C. The writer wants to be a doctor in the future.
D. The writer plans to be a jewelry designer after graduation.
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A. My Jewelry Collection
B. My Illness
C. Creating Inspirations
D. How to Get Through Bad Times
The clearing of my parents’ home has made me think about the importance, even centrality of books to the house’s life and soul. The house, and our lives in it, would not have been the same without books. The force of the statement comes home to me as I see what happens when shelves are emptied. The rooms suddenly look uncomfortably bare.
I always rather took it for granted that books furnished a room. The only rooms in our house without books were the dining-room and the bathrooms. Otherwise there were books everywhere: in all the bedrooms, in the drawing-room and in the piano room which became my parents’ comfortable winter study.
I couldn’t help feeling that books were rather like people: some more formal and boring, others more entertaining; some simply for show, others with unpromising outsides but rich interiors. They did more, in fact, than furnish a room; they were companions who could offer insights, good advice.
Now the books are being contributed (not all, to be sure, but very many), and I fear for their future, almost as if they were refugees (难民). “Habent sua fata libelli”, goes as the old Latin saying, originally written by Terentianus; it meant that the fate and future of books were determined by the capability of the reader. But the meaning of the phrase has been misunderstood by time and is now associated with the physical fate of particular books, how they have passed from owner to owner. This is how Walter Benjamin read the saying when he wrote his essay “Unpacking My Library”, which analyses the extraordinarily close relationship between a collector and his or her books.
When I deal with the books that many are going to charity shops, I hope they will find good homes, I can’t help wondering if my generation is the last that will oversee such a process. Books are disappearing, as more and more are bought in electronic form and exist only as bytes of information on e-books or other devices. Does this matter? Could books become more spiritual, as they lose their physicality?
1.When clearing the room, the author ________.
A. realized the influence of books on his past life
B. thought of the statement his parents once made
C. felt upset to leave his parents’ books behind
D. found some empty shelves left by his parents
2.The underlined word “interiors” in Paragraph 3 refers to ________.
A. pages B. notes
C. covers D. contents
3.According to Walter Benjamin, ________.
A. it’s important to pass books from one owner to another
B. the meaning of books is misunderstood by time
C. the fate of books is related to their collectors
D. the future of books depends on readers’ capability
4.From the passage we know that ________.
A. the author is attached to physical form of books
B. the author’s books are bound to find good homes
C. E-books have taken the place of traditional ones
D. the author’s parents used every room of theirs as a study
Monthly Talks at London Canal Museum
Our monthly talks start at 19:30 on the first Thursday of each month except August.
Admission is at normal charges and you don’t need to book. They end around 21:00.
November 7th
The Canal Pioneers, by Chris Lewis. James Brindley is recognized as one of the leading early canal engineers. He was also a major player in training others in the art of canal planning and building. Chris Lewis will explain how Brindley made a positive contribution to the education of that group of early “civil engineers”.
December 5th
Ice for the Metropolis, by Malcolm Tucker. Well before the arrival of freezers, there was a demand for ice for food preservation and catering, Malcolm will explain the history of importing natural ice and the technology of building ice wells, and how London’s ice trade grew.
February 6th
An Update on the Cotsword Canals, by Liz Payne. The Stroudwater Canal is moving towards reopening. The Thames and Severn Canal will take a little longer. We will have a report on the present state of play.
March 6th
Eyots and Aits—Thames Islands, by Miranda Vickers. The Thames had many islands. Miranda has undertaken a review of all of them. She will tell us about those of greatest interest.
Online bookings:www.canalmuseum.org.uk/book
More infor:www.canalmuseum.org.uk/whatson
London Cannal Museum
12-13 New Wharf Road, London NI 9RT
www.canalmuseum.org.uk www.canalmuseum.mobi
Tel:02077130836
1.When is the talk on James Brindley?
A. February 6th. B. March 6th.
C. November 7th. D. December 5th.
2.What is the topic of the talk in February?
A. The Canal Pioneers. B. Ice for the Metropolis
C. Eyots and Aits—Thames Islands D. An Update on the Cotsword Canals
3.Who will give the talk on the islands in the Thames?
A. Miranda Vickers. B. Malcolm Tucker.
C. Chris Lewis. D. Liz Payne.
“Preventing obesity (肥胖) and smoking can save lives, but it doesn’t save money,” reported researchers. “It was a small surprise, for it is against the common belief,” said Pieter van Baal, who led the study. “But it makes sense. If you live longer, then your costs of the health system will be more.”
The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up (累计) the most expensive health costs. But on average, healthy people lived 84 years. Smokers lived about 77 years, and obese people lived about 80 years. Smokers and obese people tended to have more heart disease than healthy people. Therefore in the long run, the thin and healthy group spent about $ 417,000, from age 20 on. Smokers spent about $ 326,000 and obese people $ 371,000.
“The result throws a bucket of cold water onto the idea, based on guesswork, that obesity is going to cost trillions of dollars,” said Patrick Basham, a professor of health politics. “If we’re going to worry about the future of obesity, we should stop worrying about its financial impact,” he said.
“The benefits of obesity prevention may not be seen immediately in terms of cost saving in tomorrow’s budget, but there are long-term gains,” said Baal. “These are often immeasurable when it comes to people living longer and healthier lives.” In the meanwhile, he said that governments should recognize that successful smoking and obesity prevention programs mean that people will have a higher chance of dying of something more expensive later in life.
“Lung cancer is a cheap disease to treat because people don’t survive very long. But if they are old enough to get Alzheimer’s (早老性痴呆病) one day, they may survive longer and cost more. We are not advising that governments stop trying to prevent obesity,” Baal said. “But they should do it for the right reasons.”
1.Among middle-aged people, whose costs of the health system are the most?
A. Those who are heavy smokers.
B. Those who are overweight.
C. Those who are too thin.
D. Those who are suffering from heart attacks.
2.What can we know about the belief that obesity costs much?
A. It turns out to be incorrect.
B. It comes from scientific studies.
C. It is based on medical evidence.
D. It has changed over the past years.
3.According to the text, governments should prevent obesity for the purpose of .
A. reducing the risk of suffering cancer
B. weakening obesity’s financial impact
C. making sure of people’s long and healthy life
D. reducing the money spent on medical programs
4.What would be the best title for this text?
A. A Recent Medical Study Shows the Truth about Health
B. Preventing Obesity and Smoking May Cost More
C. Obesity and Smoking Lead to Expensive Diseases
D. Governments Change Attitude towards Obesity and Smoking
