The True Story of Treasure Island
It was always thought that Treasure Island was the product of Robert Louis Stevenson’s imagination._____，recent research has found the true story of this exciting work.
Stevenson，a Scotsman，had lived _____ for many years.In 1881 he returned to Scotland for a_____.With him were his American wife Fanny and his son _____.
Each morning Stevenson would take them out for a long _____ over the hills.They had been _____ this for several days before the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse.Kept indoors by the heavy rain， Lloyd felt the days _____.To keep the boy happy， Robert asked the boy to do some _____.
One morning， the boy came to Robert with a beautiful map of an island.Robert _____ that the boy had drawn a large cross in the middle of ______. “What’s that？” he asked.“That’s the ______ treasure，”said the boy.Robert suddenly ______ something of an adventure story in the boy’s ______.While the rain was pouring，Robert sat down by the fire to write a story.He would make the ______ a twelveyearold boy，just like Lloyd.But who would be the pirate(海盗) ？
Robert had a good friend named Henley，who walked around with the ______ of a wooden leg.Robert had always wanted to ______ such a man in a story.______ Long John Silver，the pirate with a wooden leg，was ______.
So，thanks to a ______ September in Scotland，a friend with a wooden leg，and the imagination of a twelveyearold boy，we have one of the greatest ______ stories in the English language.
1.A. However B. Therefore C. Besides D. Finally
2.A. alone B. next door C. at home D. abroad
3.A. meeting B. story C. holiday D. job
4.A. Lloyd B. Robert C. Henley D. John
5.A. talk B. rest C. walk D. game
6.A. attempting B. missing C. planning D. enjoying
7.A. quiet B. dull C. busy D. cold
8.A. cleaning B. writing C. drawing D. exercising
9.A. doubted B. noticed C. decided D. recognized
10.A. the sea B. the house C. Scotland D. the island
11.A. forgotten B. buried C. discovered D. unexpected
12.A. saw B. drew C. made D. learned
13.A. book B. reply C. picture D. mind
14.A. star B. hero C. writer D. child
15.A. help B. problem C. use D. burden
16.A. praise B. produce C. include D. accept
17.A. Yet B. Also C. But D. Thus
18.A. injured B. born C. hired D. written
19.A. rainy B. sunny C. cool D. windy
20.A. news B. love C. humorous D. adventure
M: Remember Paul from our old school?
W: 1.
M: I met him at the checkout in the supermarket the other day, and he was queuing right in front of me.
W: 2.
M: Well, he started out as a manager in charge of sales. 3. He teaches commercial English there.
W: Why did he get this new job? 4.
M: Yes. It is tiring, though. After all, he has got a family to take care of.
W: I see. 5.
M: Exactly!
A.Isn't he working in a company as a sales manager?
B. Then he transferred to work for an international giant.
C. Of course I do.
D. But he ended up getting a job at the local university.
E. Isn't it interesting to travel around as a sales manager?
F. That's a good point.
G. Sometimes it is a painful choice, career or family.
One of the greatest contributions（投稿）to the first Oxford English Dictionary was also one of its most unusual. In 1879, Oxford University in England asked Prof. James Murray to serve as editor for what was to be the most ambitious dictionary in the history of the English language. It would include every English word possible and would give not only the definition but also the history of the word and quotations (引文) showing how it was used.
This was a huge task. So Murray had to find volunteers from Britain, the United States, and the British colonies to search every newspaper, magazine, and book ever written in English. Hundreds of volunteers responded, including William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor was an American Surgeon（外科医生）who had served in the Civil War and was now living in England. He gave his address as “Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire,” 50 miles from Oxford.
Minor joined the army of volunteers sending words and quotations to Murray. Over the next years, he became one of the staff’s most valued contributors.
But he was also a mystery. In spite of many invitations, he would always refuse to visit Oxford. So in 1897, Murray finally decided to travel to Crowthorne himself. When he arrived, he found Minor locked in a book-lined cell（囚室）at the Broadmoor Asylum（精神病院）for the Criminally insane.
Murray and Minor became friends, sharing their love of words. Minor continued contributing to the dictionary, sending in more than 10,000 submissions in 20 years. Murray continued to visit Minor regularly, sometimes taking walks with him around the asylum grounds.
In 1910, Minor left Broadmoor for an asylum in his native America. Murray was at the port to wave goodbye to his remarkable friend.
Minor died in 1920, seven years before the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. The 12 volumes defined 414,825 words, and thousands of them were contributions from a very scholarly and devoted asylum patient.
1.According to the text, the first Oxford English Dictionary _______.
A. came out before Minor died
B. was edited by an American volunteer
C. included the English words invented by Murray
D. was intended to be the most ambitious English dictionary
2.How did Dr. Minor contribute to the dictionary?
A. He helped Murray to find hundreds of volunteers.
B. He sent newspapers, magazines and books to Murray.
C. He provided a great number of words and quotations.
D. He went to England to work with Murray.
3.Prof. Murray and Dr. Minor became friends mainly because _______.
A. they both served in the Civil War
B. they had a common interest in words
C. Minor recovered with the help of Murray
D. Murray went to America regularly to visit Minor
4.What does the text mainly talk about?
A. The history of the English language.
B. The friendship between Murray and Minor.
C. Broadmoor Asylum and its patients.
D. Minor and the first Oxford English Dictionary.
When my brother and I were young, my mom would take us on Transportation Days.
It goes like this: You can’t take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home, walking two blocks to the rail station. We’d take the train into the city center, then a bus, switching to the tram, then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district, but we didn’t like the way the horses were treated, so we never did. At the end of the day, we took the subway to our closest station, where Mom’s friend was waiting to give us a ride home—our first car ride of the day.
The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mom taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal (多方式的). She understood that depending on cars only was a failure of imagination and, above all, a failure of confidence—the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.
Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform, nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just light-rail lines to be explored. And your personal car, if you have one, becomes just one more tool in the toolbox—and often an inadequate one, limiting both your mobility and your wallet.
On Transportation Days, we might stop for lunch on Chestnut Street or buy a new book or toy, but the transportation was the point. First, it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older, my mom helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself: How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets, and where to get them? What track, what line, which direction, where’s the stop, and will I get wet when we go under the river?
I’m writing this right now on an airplane, a means we didn’t try on our Transportation Days and, we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mom met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me.
1.Which was forbidden by Mom on Transportation Days?
A. Havinga car ride. B. Taking the train twice.
C. Buying more than one toy. D. Touring the historic district.
2.According to the writer, what was the greatest benefit of her Transportation Days?
A. Building confidence in herself. B. Reducing her use of private cars.
C. Developing her sense of direction. D. Giving her knowledge about vehicles.
3.Which means of transportation does the writer probably disapprove of (不赞成)?
A. Airplane. B. Subway.
C. Tram. D. Car.
Although his 1-year-old smart-phone still works perfectly, Li Jijia already feels the need to replace it.
“There are many better ones available now. It's time to upgrade(更新）my phone.”
Li’s impatience is shared by many. Shortly after the season when new products are released（发布，发售）, many consumers feel the urge to upgrade their electronic equipment, even though the ones they have still work just fine.
As consumers’ minds are occupied by Apple’s newly released products and debate whether the Google tablet is better than the new Amazon Kindle, it might be time to take a step back and ask: “Do we really need the latest upgrades?”
According to Donald Norman, an American author, “planned obsolescence (淘汰）” is the trick behind the upgrading culture of today’s consumer electronics industry.
Electronics producers strategically release new upgrades periodically, both for hardware and software, so that customers on every level feel the need to buy the newest version.
“This is an old-time trick---they’re not inventing anything new,” Norman said. “This is a wasteful system through which companies--many of them producing personal electronics-- release poor-quality products simply because they know that, in six months or a year, they’ll put out a new one.”
But the new psychology of consumers is part of this system, as Norman admitted, “We now want something new, something pretty, the next shiny thing.” In its most recent year, Apple's profit margin(利润) was more than 21 percent. At Hewlett-Packard, the world’s biggest PC maker, it was only 7 percent.
Apple’s annual upgrades of its products create sales of millions of units as owners of one year’s MacBook or iPhone line up to buy the newest version, even when the changes are slight.
As to Li Jijia, the need for upgrading his smart-phone comes mainly from friends and classmates. When they are switching to the latest equipment, he worries about feeling left out.
“Some games require better hardware to run,” said Li. “If you don't join in, you lose part of the connection to your friends.”
1.What’s the author’s attitude towards people’s greed for new products?
A. Supportive. B. Optimistic.
C. Critical. D. Unclear.
2.How do the electronics companies successfully promote their latest products?
A. They make full use of the “planned obsolescence” strategy.
B. They make a fool of customers by recycling their old products.
C. They control the customers’ way of thinking while shopping.
D. They invent new products to attract the youth like Li Jijia.
3.Why is Apple Company interested in producing latest version of its product?
A. To provide customers with better service.
B. To defeat other competitors like Hewlett-Packard.
C. To establish a favorable image of itself among its customers.
D. To make huge profits out of its business.
4.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that Li Jijia feels the need to replace his smart-phone as a result of____.
A. new psychology B. peer pressure
C. life style D. friends' expectation
Did you know that the position(位置) you choose to sleep in says something about what kind of person you are?
A study of 1,000 British people has been done by Chris Idzikowski, a British professor and director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service in the UK. It looked at the six most common sleeping positions and which personalities tend to match them. Have a look:
1. Fetus (胎儿) position – This is the most common sleeping position. About 41 percent of the participants said they sleep in this position. These sleepers may appear to be strong but they are usually sensitive (敏感的) and shy. The more they curl (蜷缩) up, the more worried they are.
2. Log position (树干睡姿) – This is the second most common position. People who sleep like a log are usually stubborn.
3. Yearner position (向往型睡姿) – This position says that you are open-minded and eager (急切的) to face challenges.
4. Soldier position – These sleepers lie on their backs with their arms down and close to the body. They are usually reserved and quiet.
5. Freefall position – People who sleep in this position are outgoing (外向的) but feel a lack of control in their lives. This is the least comfortable position.
6. Starfish position – People who sleep like this are good listeners, helpful, and uncomfortable being the center of attention.
1.What is the main idea of this passage?
A. Sleeping position decides personality.
B. Sleeping position reflects personality.
C. What the six different sleeping positions are like.
D. Different people have different sleeping positions.
2.Which of the following pictures shows “soldier position”?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
3.According to the passage, which of the following statements is correct?
A. Those sleeping in fetus position are always strong.
B. Those sleeping in log position changes their ideas easily.
C. Those sleeping in freefall position usually feel uncomfortable in their lives.
D. Those sleeping in starfish position may feel uneasy when focused on.
4.What does the underlined word “participants” in paragraph 3 most probably mean?
A. Fetus B. British people
C. People surveyed D. Sleepers
