Recently I gave my adult students homework. It was “go to someone you love and tell them you love them.” It has to be someone you have never said those words to before or at least haven’t shared those words with for a long time.

It sounds like very tough homework since most of the men were over 35 and were raised in the generation of men that were taught expressing emotions is not “macho (陽剛之氣).” Showing feelings or crying was just not done. So this was very threatening homework for some.

At the beginning of our next class, I asked if someone wanted to share what happened when they told someone they loved them. I fully expected one of the women to volunteer, as was usually the case, but on this evening one of the men raised his hand, quite moved and a bit shaken.

As he unfolded out of his chair (all 1.85 meters of him), he began by saying, “Dennis, I was quite angry with you last week when you gave us this homework. Who were you to tell me to do something that personal?”

“But as I began driving home my conscience (良心)started telling me that I knew exactly who I needed to say ‘I love you’ to.”

“Five years ago, my father and I had a severe disagreement and really never settled it since then. We avoided seeing each other unless we absolutely had to at Christmas or other family gatherings. But even then, we hardly spoke to each other.”

“So last Tuesday by the time I got home I had convinced myself. I was going to tell my father I loved him. It’s strange, but just making that decision seemed to lift a heavy load off my chest.”

1. The homework is threatening for some students because_________.

A. they are middle-aged people  B. they are not macho enough

C. they were taught to hide their emotions  D. they didn’t know how to show feelings

2. From the passage we know that_________.

A. the adult students have classes in the day time only

B. not all the adult students in the writer’s class are male

C. the man refused to meet his father after their quarrel

D. the man quickly decided to say “I love you” to his father

3. The underlined phrase “unfolded out of his chair” in Para 4 is closest in meaning to_________.

A. stood on his chair straight  B. sat quietly in the chair

C. bent himself over his chair  D. raised himself slowly from the chair

4. What does the man imply by saying the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?

A. He felt it too strange to say “I love you” to his father.

B. He felt relaxed just thinking of saying “I love you” to his father.

C. He felt very relaxed after saying “I love you” to his father.

D. He had to lift a heavy load off his chest before saying “I love you”.

 

 

Women who want to succeed at work should resist the temptation to act like men, scientists have said. Studies show that ambitious women are often less likely to get ahead than those who show more female characteristics. However, if they try to adapt, promotion comes their way. The findings, which will let assertive (過分自信的) women down, suggest that the best way for a woman to succeed in a man’s world is to act like a lady.

   Past research has shown that women with self-confidence and other characteristics linked with successful management can be put aside at work in favor of gentle types. It is thought that while such characteristics are highly praised in men, ambitious women are penalized for not being feminine enough. Instead of being seen as strong managers, ambitious women are in an unfavorable situation.

   In one US study, researchers explored personal details from university students applying for a summer job at a bank. A women applicant who attempted to apply for special wages to pay her transport or living costs was three and a half times less likely to get a job offer than a similar male. In fact, this kind of woman was the least likely to get taken on.

   The latest study set out to explore what women who are naturally assertive could do to get ahead in the workplace. Eighty young men and women completed surveys about their personality while studying in college. Around eight years later, the researchers got back in touch with them to find out how their careers were going. Some had been promoted five times, others just once or twice. The results showed that ambitious women who stick to their decisions had been promoted less than more feminine groups. But the ambitious women who made a conscious effort to not appear to be threatening by “self-controlling” their behavior had done better than those who had carried on ignoring others’ views.

1. What does the underlined word “penalized” mean in the second paragraph?

   A. Treated badly                             B. Asked to leave

   C. Looked down upon                          D. Made sb. have a disadvantage

2.According to the passage, if an ambitious woman and a similar man both ask the company for an extra payment, ______.

   A. the woman is less likely to be accepted

   B. the woman will work harder if she gets the payment

   C. the man can make a good impression on the boss

   D. they can be both accepted if they use proper words

3.The ambitious women in the latest study ______.

   A. had been promoted only once or twice

   B. tried hard to be as successful as gentle types

   C. were more accepted at work after they controlled their behavior

   D. filled in the surveys after they graduated from college

4.What can we learn from the passage?

   A. Successful management is highly praised in women.

   B. Some women will be disappointed by the massage.

   C. Men acting like a lady are likely to be promoted at work.

   D. The latest study was aimed at how to become a successful boss.

5.What’s the main idea of the passage?

   A. How assertive women can control their behavior.

   B. Feminists can do better by controlling their behavior.

   C. Acting like a man won’t get women promoted at work.

   D. How the ambitious women can avoid acting like men.

 

In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide acts rather like a one-way mirror or the glass in the roof of a greenhouse which allows the sun's rays to enter but prevents the heat from escaping.

　　 According to a weather expert' s prediction, the atmosphere will be 3℃ warmer in the year 2050 than it is today, if man continues to burn fuels at the present rate. If this warming up took place, the ice caps in the poles would begin to melt, thus raising sea level several metres and severely flooding coastal cities. Also, the increase in atmospheric temperature would lead to great changes in the climate of the northern hemisphere (北半球), possibly resulting in an alteration of the earth's chief food growing zones.

　　  In the past, concern about a man-made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet. But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic, which may be affected by only a few degrees of warming, in other words, by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from the burning of fuels.

　　  Satellite pictures show that large areas of Antarctic ice are already disappearing. The evidence available suggests that a warming has taken place. This fits the theory that carbon dioxide warms the earth.

　　  However, most of the fuel is burnt in the northern hemisphere, where temperatures seem to be falling. Scientists conclude , therefore, that up to now natural influences on the weather have gone beyond those caused by man. The question is: Which natural cause has most effect on the weather?

　　  One possibility is the variable behavior of the sun. Astronomers at one research station have studied the hot spots and "cold" spots (that is, the relatively less hot spots) on the sun. As the sun rotates (使旋轉(zhuǎn)), every 27. 5 days, it presents hotter or "colder" faces to the earth, and different aspects to different parts of the earth. This seems to have a considerable effect on the distribution of the earth's atmospheric pressure, and consequently on wind circulation. The sun is also changeable over a long term: its heat output goes up and down in cycles, the latest trend being downward.

　　  Scientists are now finding shared relations between models of solar weather interactions and the actual climate over many thousands of years, including the last Ice Age. The problem is that the models are predicting that the world should be entering a new Ice Age and it is not. One way of solving this theoretical difficulty is to assume a delay of thousands of years while the solar effects overcome the inertia (慣性) of the earth's climate. If this is right, the warming effect of carbon dioxide might thus be serving as a useful opposed balance to the sun's fading heat .

66. It can be concluded that a concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would_________.

   A. mean a warming-up in the Antarctic

   B. raise the temperature of the earth' s surface

C. prevent the sun's rays from reaching the earth's surface

D. explain the cause of  great changes in the climate in the northern hemisphere

67.The article was written to explain ___________. 

A. the greenhouse effect

B. the solar effects on the earth

C. the causes affecting weather

D. the models of solar-weather interactions

68. Although the fuel consumption is greater in the northern hemisphere, temperatures there　seem to be falling. This is__________.

 A. mainly because the levels of carbon dioxide are rising

 B. partly due to changes in the output of solar energy

C. possibly because the ice caps in the poles are melting

D. only due to the effect of the inertia of the earth' s climate

69. On the basis of their models, scientists believe the opinion that__________.

A. the climate of the world should be becoming cooler

B. the new Ice Age will be delayed by the greenhouse effect

C. the man-made warming effect helps to increase the solar effects

D. it will take thousands of years for the inertia of the earth's climate to take effect

70. If the assumption about the delay of a new Ice age is correct, ____________.

A. ice would soon cover the northern hemisphere

B. the greenhouse effect could work in favor of the earth

C. the best way to overcome the cooling effect would be to burn more fuels

D. the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could warm up the earth even more quickly

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　Like most people, I’ve long understood that I’ll be judged by my occupation, that my profession is used by people to see how talented I am. Recently, however, I was disappointed to see that it also decides how I’m treated as a person.

　　Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables. As someone paid to serve food to people, I had customers say and do things to me I suppose they’d never say or do to the people they know. One night a man talking on his cell phone waved me away, then called me back with his finger a minute later, saying angrily that he was ready to order and asking where I’d been.

　　I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon（勤雜工） by plenty of people. But at 19 years old, I believed I deserved inferior（低等的）treatment from professional adults. Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college. Customers would joke that one day I’d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.

　　Once I graduated I took a job at a community newspaper. From my first day, I heard a respectful tone from everyone who called me. I assumed this was the way the professional world worked--- politely and formally.

　　I soon found out differently. I sat several feet away from a person in advertising department with a similar name. Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie. The mistake was immediately clear. Perhaps it was because of money, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.

　　It’s no secret that there’s a lot to put up with when waiting tables, and fortunately, much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips. The service industry exists to meet others’ needs. Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant.

　　I’m now applying to graduate school, which means someday I’ll return to a profession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want. I think I’ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose job is to serve them.

　　68. What makes the author disappointed?

　　A. Professionals tend to look down upon workers.

　　B. Talented people have to do the job waiting tables.

　　C. One’s position is used to measure one’s intelligence.

　　D. Occupation affects the way one is treated as a person.

　　69. What does the author intend to say by the example in Paragraph 2?

　　A. Waiting tables is a hard job.

　　B. Some customers are difficult to deal with.

　　C. The man making a phone call is absent-minded.

　　D. Some customers show no respect to those who serve them.

　　70. How did the author feel when waiting tables at the age of 19?

　　A. She felt it unfair to be treated as a servant.

　　B. She found it natural for professionals to treat her as inferior.

　　C. She was embarrassed each time her customers joked with her.

　　D. She felt badly hurt when her customers regarded her as a peon.

　　71. The author says one day she’ll take her customers to dinner in order to _______.

　　A. see what kind of person they are

　　B. experience the feeling of being served

　　C. share her working experience with her customers

　　D. help them realize the difference between server and servant

Is there anything more important than health? I don’t think so. “Health is the greatest wealth.” wise people say. You can’t be good at your studies or work well when you are ill.If you have a

headache, toothache, backache, earache or bad pain in the stomach, if you complain of a bad cough, if you run a high temperature and have a bad cold, or if you suffer from high or low blood pressure, I think you should go to the doctor. The doctor will examine your throat, feel your pulse, test your blood pressure, take your temperature, sound your heart and lungs, test your eyes, check your teeth or have your chest X-rayed. After that he will advise some treatment, or some medicine. The only thing you have to do is to follow his advice.    

     Speaking about doctor’s advice, I can’t help telling you a funny story. An old gentleman came to see the doctor. The man was very ill. He told the doctor about his weakness, memory loss and serious problems with his heart and lungs. The doctor examined him and said there was no medicine for his disease. He told his patient to go to a quiet place for a month and have a good rest. He also advised him to eat a lot of meat, drink two glasses of red wine every day and take long walks. In other words, the doctor advised him to follow the rule: “Eat with pleasure, drink with pleasure and enjoy life as it is.” The doctor also said that if the man wanted to be well again, he shouldn’t smoke more than one cigarette a day. A month later the gentleman came into the doctor’s office. He looked cheerful and happy. He thanked the doctor and said that he had never felt a healthier man.“ But you know, doctor,” he said, “it’s not easy to begin smoking at my age.”

1.The writer thinks that_____.

A. health is more important than wealth        B. work is as important as studies

C. medicine is more important than pleasure    D. nothing is more important than money

2. The doctor usually tells his patient what to do______.

 A. without examining the patient           B. after he has examined the patient

C. if the patient doesn’t take medicine      D. unless the patient feels pain

3. The underlined part means “______”.

 A. he was feeling better than ever          B. he wasn’t a healthy man

C. he was feeling worse than before        D. he will be well again

4.From the last sentence of the passage, we learn the man_______ before the doctor told him not to smoke more than one cigarette a day.

A. was a heavy smoker                  B. didn’t smoke so much

C. didn’t smoke                        D. began to learn to smoke

5. Which of the following is NOT true?

A. The doctor usually tests his/her blood pressure when a person is ill.

B. The man told the doctor he couldn’t remember things.

C. The man thanked the doctor.   D. The man didn’t follow the doctor’s advice.