Have you complained 1.your family, your boss, or even your life? Maybe everyone has, but after reading this story, you may change your view and treat the world with another attitude.
An ass (驴),2.(belong) to an herb-seller who gave him too little food and too much work, could not bear the life any longer. So he made a request to God, to be released from his present service and provided with3.master. After warning him4.he would regret doing it, God made him to be sold to a tile-maker. Shortly afterwards, the ass found that he had 5.(heavy) loads to carry and harder work in the brick-field, and asked for another change again. God, telling him that it would be6.last time that he could satisfy his request, made him sold to a tanner (皮革工). The ass found that he7.(fall) into worse hands. Knowing his new master’s occupation, he said, “It would have been better for me either to have been starved by the first owner 8. to have been overworked by the second. But now I have already been bought by my present owner,9.will peel off my skin even after I am dead, and make me useful .”
We can see that people with dissatisfaction in a place are not10.(like) to find happiness in another.
Like many families in Sanyati, a small countryside town in western Zimbabwe（津巴布韦）, Johnson’s family does not have a television. One day after school, Johnson arrived home and ______ something unusual in the house. At first, he ______ his father had bought a television, but when his mother said it was a computer, he was ______.
It’s not that Johnson didn’t like the ______; he just didn’t know how to use it. Johnson and his father didn’t even know how to turn it on. "Nobody in our neighborhood knew how to ______ a computer," Johnson said.
But things _____ when Nikon, a young family friend, came from a big city to visit. Nikon knew all about computers.
“At first, I was always ______ the wrong button,” Johnson recalled. “But I kept on going ______I was eager to learn.” After three weeks, Johnson had mastered some computer _______, such as opening and closing files.
Johnson kept on practicing after Nikon ______. His speed slowly improved. Soon, Johnson felt ______ with the computer. Meanwhile, Johnson’s friends _____ what had happened to him. He no longer played soccer after school like he used to. Johnson’s friends ______. Were Johnson’s parents _____him from playing with them? Did he have new friends?
One day, three of Johnson’s friends surprised him at home. They couldn’t ______ what they saw — a computer, and Johnson was operating it. After that, Johnson began to teach them how to use the computer.
It wasn’t long before the neighborhood kids wanted to learn, too! The computer began to experience _____ because the kids were pressing too many buttons. So he ______a plan. He began charging for lessons. But this did not stop more kids from coming. Those whose parents did not have money _______with chickens or goats.
Johnson has taught computer skills to 30 students from his local school. With the money earned from ______, Johnson has bought a television and a radio for his _______. And he plans to buy a new computer and keep on teaching.
1.A. realized B. noticed C. received D. achieved
2.A. felt B. found C. thought D. decided
3.A. disappointed B. interested C. satisfied D. excited
4.A. television B. radio C. telephone D. computer
5.A. operate B. repair C. manage D. control
6.A. finished B. ended C. changed D. corrected
7.A. editing B. pressing C. pulling D. putting
8.A. but B. and C. because D. so
9.A. systems B. files C. languages D. basics
10.A. left B. returned C. arrived D. disappeared
11.A. confused B. comfortable C. valuable D. considerable
12.A. remembered B. discussed C. suspected D. wondered
13.A. screamed B. hoped C. worried D. laughed
14.A. preventing B. escaping C. protecting D. separating
15.A. understand B. admit C. prove D. believe
16.A. challenges B. problems C. tasks D. chances
17.A. kept up with B. put up with C. came up with D. caught up with
18.A. paid B. greeted C. filled D. played
19.A. working B. begging C. teaching D. competing
20.A. friend B. neighbor C. student D. family
How to relax your mind
Nowadays，people everywhere seem to find less and less time available to them, and more and more things to achieve. It’s quite common to find people running around like headless chickens meeting deadlines that they create. One doesn’t have to live this way, in stress and struggle. 1.
Breathe — I can’t stress enough the importance of learning how to breathe properly, and not only when you’re stressed, but at all times that you can. Learning how to breathe properly at all times is essential. You should try to deepen and lengthen your breath to lower the stress level and promote relaxation.2.
Relax — We often think that just going to the gym and working out is the right way to go to relax ourselves. 3. A good hard workout is good from time to time, but you are still running at full steam ahead and not giving yourself time to relax. So lighting some fragrant candles, taking a slow hot bath or a shower, or meditating for even 10 minutes will do wonders to help you relax your mind and get out of the stress zone.
Let it all out — 4. So calling or meeting up with a person who can listen and empathize with us, is often a great way to relax. It’s important that we don’t go into victim mode and get too negative. When we let out our frustrations, it should be done in a positive manner, and with lightheartedness, even joking about the stress we’re under.
5. — Probably one of the most difficult skills at first to master, but in the end one of the most rewarding to learn in our fast-paced society is the attitude of gratitude. We can do some gratitude list making right on the spot to get out of our heads and away from all that we wished we had but don’t, and to be thankful for all that we do have. I swear learning how to do this will relax you in a way that will change your life for the better.
Hopefully this article helped you to find an answer to your question about how to relax your mind from stress. Try these techniques and let us know, what works best for you.
A. Be thankful to your friends.
B. Be grateful for what you have.
C. But this pace doesn’t do much for our mind or stress levels.
D. You can either lie down on the floor or sit comfortably to relax yourself.
E. In this article we will present a few tips on how to relax your mind from stress.
F. In addition, deeper breathes help to get rid of harmful substances in your lungs.
G. Sometimes we need to just let out our frustrations and worries to a close friend.
If you and I met at a party, you would probably ask me what I do for a living, what town I live in — the kind of questions that would help you to build a picture of who I am. I might ask the same of you, but I probably wouldn't be listening. It's more likely I'd be looking at the label on your jeans, glancing at your shoes, and eyeing up your mobile phone. These are the things that really tell me who you are. In fact, I sincerely hope you would notice the same things about me. Well, that's the way it was a year ago.
I began to behave like this at a very early age. I remember the first day of junior school, standing alone in the playground, desperately wanting to make friends. I headed straight for what seemed to be the most promising group of boys. They were talking to girls, trading football cards, eating green sweets — all the things I wanted to do. As I attempted to talk with them, one boy asked me, “Do you support Manchester United Football Club?” Another asked, “Are you into Michael Jackson?” I answered yes to them all, even though the truthful answer was no.
Things seemed to be going well until one of the boys caught sight of my trainers. I'd never thought too much about them before. They were just plain blue sports shoes that Mum had bought, for playing in the back garden. At once, the group laughed very loudly, “Where did you get those from? A charitable organization?”
Looking at the boys in bewilderment (疑惑), I noticed for the first time that they all had similar shapes on the sides of their trainers, like the ones on footballers' boots on television. It wasn't just their shoes: crocodiles, eagles and tigers sat on the breasts of their T-shirts, and every single boy seemed to have the same school bag, a blue plastic bag with a leaping puma in silver on the side. I walked away quietly, depressed. From that day on, I was determined to be like them, if not more so.
1.What was the author like one year ago?
A. He was very interested in figure paintings.
B. He used to judge others by their appearances.
C. He was crazy about holding different parties.
D. He had some difficulty communicating with others.
2.How did the author react when asked about his favorite football team?
A. He replied proudly. B. He kept silent.
C. He told a lie. D. He refused to answer.
3.Why did the group suddenly burst out laughing?
A. Because they looked down upon the author.
B. Because they were attracted by the author.
C. Because they welcomed the author warmly.
D. Because they played a joke on the author.
4.After the first day of junior school, the author began to _____.
A. be addicted to television
B. concern himself with animals
C. follow famous football players
D. spend more money on branded goods
There are many simple, powerful phrases we use. “I love you” is a big one. “I’m sorry” is another. “I forgive you” is powerful for both the speaker and the recipient(接受者). But the phrase that can change the way we relate to others and the way we view the world has become unpopular: “I need your help”.
When we acknowledge our need for help, we go beyond just connecting with others; we show our needs and allow ourselves to receive. Why is this so hard? It isn’t just our own skills or strengths that help us survive and bounce back from difficult times; it’s also making the choice to reach out to others.
It’s easy for most of us to give. It feels life affirming to help others, to give of ourselves. But asking for help and being willing to receive help from others is much harder. When we take that risk—the risk that the answer might be rejection, or unwillingness to help---we are not being weak. We are being vulnerable(易受伤害的), which is perhaps our greatest untapped strength.
Life is never “stress-free”; we all have those times that seem particularly overwhelming, where we get so tired that the word “tired” just doesn’t do it justice anymore. These are the times when it seems hardest to reach out, and these are the times when we need to do it the most.
When we ask for help:
★We are choosing to trust the person we ask for help; this shows our respect for him/her.
★We are using our resources wisely. It is a wise person that chooses to ask for help before a problem is out of control.
★We are helping to break down this idea of asking for help as weakness.
1.What can we learn from Paragraph 1?
A. Phrases can be powerful when used correctly.
B. We should use powerful phrases more often.
C. People don’t need as much help as before.
D. People don’t tend to ask for help today.
2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Life is a matter of choice.
B. Asking for help is very important.
C. It’s actually very easy to ask for help.
D. We need a lot of skills to survive hard times.
3.Which of the following statements would the author agree with?
A. Showing our weakness is our strength.
B. Offering help is harder than asking for help.
C. People are usually willing to offer help.
D. We should be ashamed of being vulnerable.
4.What does the author mainly want to show in the text?
A. Asking for help when necessary doesn’t mean weakness.
B. Today’s people love depending on themselves.
C. We should do our best to help others in need.
D. It’s not a bad idea to show our weakness.
A company has designed a water bottle, the Memobottle, which is ideal for the office worker’s bag, because it’s completely flat. With the same shape as a piece of paper, the Memobottle is a reusable water bottle that slides into your bag to lie next to books and laptops. The bottle, which can also be washed in a dishwasher, is designed to help reduce the number of plastic bottles in landfills（填埋）.
Two creative people Jesse Leeworthy and Jonathan Byrt, both 28,designed the bottle to be convenient to carry and environmentally friendly. It is made from a durable and dishwasher-friendly“green” plastic.
Leeworthy and Byrt,from Australia, say more than 600 billion single-use bottles were sold globally last year. In America alone, studies show that around 1,500 single-use water bottle are consumed every second—only 20 percent of these are recycled. And the cost of buying more and more plastic bottles adds to— the pair say that bottled water costs approximately 1,400 times more than tap water.
“We’ve always been passionate about the environment,” said Leeworthy.“For years we have been focused on creative design that provides environmental remedy while improving social convenience. The Memobottle was designed to overcome two problems that we see in our society: our attachment to the outdoors,and our inability to fit water bottles in laptop bags.”
The bottle will be available in three different sizes— A5 which holds 750 ml,A4 which holds 1.25 litres and letter size which stores 1.25 litres. The product is seeking funding on Kickstarter and has already soared（飙升）past its primary goal of raising £8,310 ($13,500),reaching it in just 36 hours. Jonathan Byrt said, “The feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive! The emails of support and interest, and social media comments have been amazing!”
The product is expected to be on the market by Christmas and will be available for global delivery.
1.What is the main character of the newly-designed water bottle?
A. Clean and easy to wash.
B. Practical and friendly to environment.
C. Flat and popular with housewives.
D. Cheap and convenient to carry in bags.
2.What are the two designers most concerned about?
A. Materials and shape. B. Price and production.
C. Comments and popularity. D. Environment and convenience.
3.What is people’s attitude towards the water bottle?
A. Opposed. B. Indifferent.
C. Supportive. D. Doubtful.
4.What can be the best title of the text?
A. The way to protect water resource.
B. Round water bottles are out of date.
C. Seeking fund for an ideal water bottle.
D. Two creative Australian young designers.
