“Whatever”，totally tops most annoying word in the poll(民意测验).So, you know, it is
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“Whatever”，totally tops most annoying word in the poll(民意测验).So, you know, it is what it is, but Americans are totally annoyed by the use of “whatever，，in conversations. The popular term of indifference(不感兴趣)was found most annoying in conversations by 47 percent of the Americans surveyed in a Marist College poll on Wednesday.
"Whatever" easily beat out “you know," which especially annoyed a quarter of interviewers. The other annoying expressions were "anyway"(at 7 percent), “it is what it is’，(11percent) and “at the end of the day”(2 percent).
"Whatever" is an expression with staying power. It left everyone a deep impression in the song by Nirvana (“oh well, whatever, never mind”）in 1991 and was popularized by the Valley Girls in the film “Clueless”，later that decade. It is still commonly used, often by younger people.
It can be a common argument-ender or a signal of indifference. And it can really be annoying. The poll found ""whatever" to be consistently(始终地)disliked by Americans regardless of their race, sex, age, income or where they live.
“It doesn"t surprise me because ‘whatever，is in a special class, probably，，，said Michael Adams, author of “Slang(俚语)~The People"s Poetry" and an associate professor of English at Indiana University. "It"s a word that 一 and it depends on how a speaker uses it 一 can suggest being not worthy of attention or respect.’，Adams, who didn"t take part in the poll and is not annoyed by "whatever," points out that its use is not always negative. “It can also be used in place of other neutral(中性的）phrases that have fallen out of favor, like ‘six of one, half dozen of the other，.” he said. However, he also noted that the negative meaning of the word might explain why “whatever，was judged more annoying than the ever-popular "you know”.
小题1:Which tops second among the annoying expression according to the passage?"| A．Whatever. | B．You know. | C．Anyway. | D．It is what it is. |
小题2: What can we know about the word "whatever"?| A．It became popular because of Nirvana. | | B．It can be commonly used at the beginning of an agreement. | | C．Old people like it while young people don"t. | | D．Almost half of the Americans surveyed disliked it. |
小题3:In Adams" opinion, the reason why “whatever”，was judged more annoying may be that . _______| A．most of the people don"t like it | | B．it can be used in place of other neutral phrases | | C．it carries certain negative meaning sometimes | | D．the poor don"t like it |
小题4:Which of the following statements is true?| A．Adams is not only a writer but also a professor. | | B．“Whatever” is a signal of concern. | | C．Adams is angry at the word “whatever” | | D．"Whatever" will be replaced by "You know”. |
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答案
小题1:B
小题2:D
小题3:C
小题4:A |
解析
小题1:细节题。结合“Whatever”，totally tops most annoying word in the poll(民意测验).和"Whatever" easily beat out “you know," which especially annoyed a quarter of interviewers.可知美国人对日常交谈中“无所谓（Whatever）”这句口头禅最为反感；Whatever”轻松击败“you know（你知道）”位居榜首，四分之一的受访者最讨厌后者。“you know（你知道）排在第二位。
小题2:推断题。结合The popular term of indifference(不感兴趣)was found most annoying in conversations by 47 percent of the Americans surveyed in a Marist College poll on Wednesday.可知D正确。
小题3:细节题。结合“he also noted that the negative meaning of the word might explain why “whatever， was judged more annoying than the ever-popular "you know” 可知C正确。
小题4:细节题。结合“Michael Adams, author of “Slang(俚语)~The People"s Poetry" and an associate professor of English at Indiana University. 可知A正确。 |
举一反三
After their 15-year-old dog Bailey died in 2007, Ron and his wife, Ann, looked for months to find the right new pet. “I love dogs,” says Ron, a worker at a health club in Waukesha, Wisconsin. “I can’t imagine not having one.”
Finally, the couple spotted a young dog at the Humane Society in Milwaukee. His name was Oscar. “He was very attractive,” says Ron, 65. Oscar quickly made himself at home, sleeping on his new owners’ bed at night.
A diabetic(糖尿病人) for 25 years, Ron faithfully took his medicine four times a day and generally had no problems. But on March 17, at about 3 a.m., he got out of bed to use the bathroom. Suddenly, he fell down to the floor. “I must have taken the wrong amount of medicine before I went to sleep, because my blood sugar was dangerously low,” he says.
“Normally, Oscar is very quiet and well-behaved,” says Ron. “But when I hit the floor, he let out sounds like a wild animal.”
“Honestly, it sounded like the dog from hell,” says Ann, who was awakened by the sound.” I didn’t know what the sound was. Then I saw my husband lying on the bathroom floor. He was cold.” She ran for the phone and called an ambulance.
Ron spent several hours in the hospital. By 6:30a.m., he was well enough to go home. “You would never suspect Oscar of any heroism.” says his grateful owner. “He’s a wonderful little guy. We are lucky enough to own him.”
Even before Oscar’s heroic action, the couple had given their pet a new nickname(昵称). “We felt the name Oscar wasn’t good enough,” says Ron, “so sometimes we call him Eduardo”—more suitable, they think, for their dog.
小题1:What was Ann doing when Ron went to the bathroom?| A．She was sleeping. | | B．She was watching TV. | | C．She was taking care of Oscar. | | D．She was talking with someone on the phone. |
小题2:Why did Ron fell onto the floor in the bathroom?
- He forgot to take his medicine.
- The floor in the bathroom was too wet.
- He took the wrong amount of medicine.
- He is a diabetic and accidentally ate somesugar.
小题3:Which of the following is TRUE?
- Oscar was 15 years old when he wasfound.
- The sound of Oscar was usually like awild animal.
- Ron got diabetes when he was 40 yearsold.
- Ron had to take his medicine three timesa day.
小题4:From the passage we can learn that Oscar_______________.
- is a little noisy at home
- sleeps with his owners at night
- got his new nickname after the story
- was found at a health club in Waukesha
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In seventh grade, Brittany Blythe dreamed of being a cheerleader. Her school’s coaches were less than enthusiastic. “They said, ‘I don’t know how you’ll be able to do it,’ she recalls. “‘You won’t be able to do it. ’”
But Brittany, now a junior at Strath Haven High School near Philadelphia, persisted(坚持). And when the junior team cheerleaders won a tournament last year, she was right there, dancing and cheering with the rest of the team.
Not bad for someone whose legs were cut off below the knee when she was two years old.
Brittany, 18, was born without shinbones(胫骨)--“just blood and muscle tissue”, as she puts it. When she tried to walk, her legs twisted.
After the operation, she adapted quickly. “From day one, I basically jumped up and wanted to do everything,” she says. Prosthetic legs(假腿) allowed her to move around upright, but too slowly to keep up with her friends. Brittany’s solution: take the legs off and walk on her knees---sometimes she still does when safety and comfort permit.
She’s rarely daunted. Other children laughed at her through the years, especially in junior high school, but she says the challenge only made her stronger. Now she’s trying to convince her coaches to let her remove the prostheses and be a flyer, the cheerleader who’s thrown in the air and caught by her teammates.
Brittany doesn’t think her problems are more difficult than the next person’s. “My disability was the first thing I had to get through, and that’s going to prepare me for the future,” she says. “It’s all just a test: If someone throws you a curve ball(给你出难题), what are you going to do?”
小题1:What was the school’s coaches’ attitude towards Brittany’s idea of being a cheerleader?| A．Supportive | B．Doubtful | C．Opposed | D．Curious |
小题2:What did Brittany do to keep up with her friends?| A．She used a pair of walking sticks. | | B．She practiced hard every day. | | C．She walked on her knees. | | D．She asked her friends for help |
小题3:The underlined word “daunted” in Paragraph 6 probably means _____________.| A．discouraged | B．angry | C．confident | D．fortunate |
小题4:We can learn from the last paragraph that Brittany __________.| A．is not well prepared for the future | | B．takes a positive attitude towards life | | C．likes the challenge of learning new things | | D．thinks that her problems are more difficult than other’s. |
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All the Lortons’ farm animals – the cows and the goats, the ducks and the chickens, got along well with Roger—a llama(美洲驼). But since llamas are used to thinking of animals like coyotes(土狼) and dogs as threats, it took Roger a few weeks to accept the family dog.
Roger protects the sheep and lambs in two ways. First, he keeps the sheep together. A hungry coyote will try to scatter(分散) the flock and then pick off a weak or small animal that has become separated from the rest. But when a coyote threatens the Lorton’s sheep, they all run to Roger, depending on him to defend them.
And he does, with his second defense: confronting(对抗) the coyote. Llamas are very curious and will run at top speed to investigate anything that looks interesting. When a coyote sees a three-hundred-pound llama rushing toward it, the coyote will not usually wait around to see what the llama wants.
And once a llama realizes that a coyote is threatening the flock, the llama will stand between the coyote and the sheep to defend them. Often, the llama will charge toward the coyote with its head down. As it runs, it will sometimes call out an alarm to the flock in a high-pitched voice. Since Roger’s arrival, coyotes haven’t gotten any sheep from the Lortons.
小题1:The purpose of the passage is to tell us that ________________.
- a llama helps guard sheep
- coyotes are sheep’s main enemy
- llamas are much smarter than coyotes
- some types of dogs can’t protect sheep
小题2:The following words can be used to describe Roger Except_____________.| A．protective | B．curious | C．brave | D．patient |
小题3:It can be inferred that the Lortons are __________________.
- scientists studying llamas’ behavior
- farmers using a llama to guard sheep
- citizens keeping a llama as a pet
- businessmen selling llamas to farmers
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Jean—Francois Millet (October 4,1814----January 20, 1875) was a French painter and one of the founder of the Barbizon School in rural France. Born of a peasant family, Millet was encouraged by his father to study art in Cherbourg, France. He can be categorized as part of the movement called “naturalism”(自然主义). His understanding of the peasant’ hard life was perfectly expressed in his choice of subject and natural preference for powerful but simple drawing and coloring.
One of the most well—known of Millet’s paintings, The Gleaners(《拾穗者》)，first came in a vertical composition(垂直式构图) painted in 1854,and then there came the horizontal version in 1856, which is now preserved in the Musee d’Orsay. It depicts women bending over in the fields to collect the leftover’s from the harvest, and it is a monumental composition devoted to the working class.
Previously, servants were depicted in paintings as obedient to a noble or a king, and picking up what was left of the harvest was regarded as one of the lowest jobs in Millet;s times. However, Millet offered these women as the heroic focus of the picture. Besides, in the painting, light lights up the women’s shoulders as they carry out their work. Behind them, the field that stretches into the distance is bathed in golden light, under a wide , magnificent sky. The forms of the three figures, standing against the lighter field, show balance and harmony.
小题1:According to the passage , we can know that Millet________.| A．was born in rural France | | B．belongs to neither naturalism nor realism | | C．became famous for his love of the countryside | | D．received his high school education in Barbizon |
小题2:As for the painting The Gleaners, ________.| A．it is originally a horizontal composition | | B．it is based on the effort of Musee d’Orsay | | C．it presents women in the field as the chief focus | | D．it shows how women are stopped from working in the field |
小题3:In the painting, the viewer can appreciate Millet’s_________..| A．crazy interest in blue color | | B．strong focus on the city life | | C．absolute respect for the king | | D．particular choice of main characters |
小题4:In which of the following books can we probably find this passage?| A．Kings and Nobles in France | | B．A Guide to French Painting | | C．French Agricultural History | | D．The Founder of Musee d’Orsay |
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One warm September night, Mira had come down to the beach to enjoy the night air. She closed her eyes and listened to the waves. Suddenly, she could hear another sound, so she opened her eyes and looked down at the sand. It was moving! All of a sudden she could see a tiny head coming out. Then a turtle(龟) appeared! One by one they struggled out of their underground nests. Mira looked in surprise at the baby turtles.
Mira knew the turtles should head towards the waves and swim away, so she was puzzled when they began to pull themselves towards the dunes(沙丘). Suddenly, she remembered something her grandmother had told her.
“Sea turtles bury their eggs on the beach every year in April and in September. Those baby turtles hatch(孵出) and head back down to the sea. But some of them never make it. Sometimes they die going across the dunes, trying to find those bright lights on the houses. Every day there are more houses being built on the dunes. That means more and more lights to confuse the sea turtles.”
Mira looked out across the dunes at her house. Mira saw her mother and father, sitting on the porch(门廊). She could see them because her house had two bright lights that lit up the porch.
Mira began to run to her house and shouted, “The turtles are hatching! We have to help the turtles!” With these words, Mira ran into the house and turned off the bright porch lights.
In a rush she was off running down the dunes with her whole family following her. They reached the beach just in time to see the tiny turtles slipping silently into the waves. Mira watched as the last turtle entered the water. As the turtle swam away, it looked back at Mira. In the moonlight, Mira thought she saw it smile.
小题1:Where did the story happen?| A．On a beach at night | B．In a house near the dunes. | | C．On a front porch in the evening. | D．In the shallow water of the ocean. |
小题2:How did Mira feel when she saw the baby turtles appear?| A．Proud. | B．Sad. | C．Confused. | D．Surprised. |
小题3:How did Mira know the lights confused the turtles?| A．She read it in a book. | B．Her grandmother told her. | | C．She learned about the turtles at school. | D．Her parents taught her about the turtles. |
小题4:Why did Mira run to her house?| A．To get a flashlight | B．To turn off the porch light. | | C．To communicate with her parents. | D．To ask her grandmother about the lights. |
小题5:This story is mainly about a girl ________.| A．enjoying the ocean | B．turning lights off at night | | C．saving the baby turtles | D．learning from her grandparents |
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