I recently turned fifty, which is young for a tree, midlife for an elephant , an
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I recently turned fifty, which is young for a tree, midlife for an elephant , and ancient for a sportsman, Fifty is a nice number for the states in the US or for a national speed limit but it is not a number that I was prepared to have hung on me. Fifty is supposed to be my father’s age. but now I am stuck with this number and everything it means.
A few days ago, a friend tried to cheer me up by saying, “ Fifty is what forty used to be . ”He had made an inspirational point, Am I over the hill ?People keep telling me that the hill has been moved, and I keep telling them that he high-jump bar has dropped from the six feet I once easily cleared to the four feet that is impossible for me now.
“ Your are not getting older, you are getting better . ” says Dr. Joyce Brothers . This, however, is the kind of doctor who inspires a second opinion.
And so. as I approach the day when I cannot even jump over the tennis net. I am moves to share some thoughts on aging with you. I am moved to show how aging feels to me physically and mentally. Getting older. of course, is obviously a better change than the one that brings you eulogies(悼词). In fact , a poet named Robert Browning considered it the best change of all :
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to me.
Whether or not Browning was right , most of my first fifty years have been golden ones, so I will settle for what is ahead being as good as what has gone by. I find myself moving toward what is ahead with a curious blend ( 混合) of both fighting and accepting my aging, hoping that the philosopher(哲学家) was right when he said . ”Old is always fifteen years from now. ”
44. The author seems to tell us in Paragraph I that
A time alone will tell B time goes by quickly
C time will show what is right D time makes one forget the past
45. When the author turned fifty , people around him
A. tried to comfort him B. got inspiration with him
C. were friendlier with him D. found him more talkative
46. The author considers his fifty years of life
A peaceful B. ordinary C. satisfactory D. regretful
47. We can infer from the passage that
A. the old should led a simple life B. the old should face the fact of aging
C. the old should take more exercise D. the old should fill themselves with curiosity |
答案
44---47 BACB |
解析
44. B
解析:这是一道归纳题。文章第一段表达了作者对于到达50岁这个年龄的惆怅,通过“Fifty is supposed to be my father’s age,but now I am stuck with this number and everything it means.”表达作者对于时光流逝太快的感慨。
45. A
解析:这是一道推断题。根据第二段和第三段朋友和医生的话“Fifty is what forty used to be.”和“You’re not getting older.You’re getting better.”可知作者身边的人都在安慰他。
46. C
解析:这是一道推断题。根据最后一段“most of my first fifty years have been golden ones,so I will settle for what is ahead being as good as what has gone by.”可以推断出作者认为他的50岁是一个黄金时期,将会和已经过去的时期一样满意。settle for就是“满足”的意思。
47. B
解析:这是一道推理题。根据最后一句“I find myself moving toward what is ahead with a curious blend of both fighting and accepting my aging.”。暗示着作者认为老年人应该接受年龄,面对现实。 |
举一反三
All her life, my mother wanted busy children. It was very important that her house should remain at all things clean and tidy.
You could turn your back for a moment in my mother"s house, leave a half written letter on the dining room table, a magazine open on the chair, and turn around to find that my mother had "put it back where it belonged." as she explained.
My wife, on one of her first visits to my mother"s house, placed a packet of biscuits on an end table and went to the kitchen to fetch a drink. When she returned, she found the packet had been removed. Confused(疑惑的), she set down her drink and went back to the kitchen for more biscuits, only to return to find that her drink had disappeared. Up to then she had guessed that everyone in my family held onto their drinks, so as not to make water rings on the end tables. Now she knows better.
These disappearances had a confusing effect on our family. We were all inclined to (有......的倾向) forgetfulness, and it was common for one of us, upon returning from the bathroom, to find the every sign of his work in progress had disappeared suddenly. "Do you remember what I was doing?" was a question frequently asked, but rarely answered.
Now my sister has developed a second-hand love of clean windows, and my brother does the cleaning in his house, perhaps to avoid having to be the one to lift his feet. I try not to think about it too much, but I have at this later time started to dust the furniture once a week.
68. Which of the following is TRUE about my mother?
A. She enjoyed removing others" drinks. B. She became more and more forgetful.
C. She preferred to do everything by herself. D. She wanted to keep her house in good order.
69. My wife could not find her biscuits and drink in my mother"s house because _______.
A. she had already finished them B. my mother had taken them away
C. she forgot where she had left them D. someone in my family was holding them
70. The underlined part to the fifth paragraph suggests that my sister _______.
A. is happy to clean windows B. loves to clean used windows
C. is fond of clean used windows D. likes clean windows as my mother did
71. This passage mainly tells us that _______.
A. my mother often made us confused B. my family members had a poor memory
C. my mother helped us to form a good habit
D. my wife was surprised when she visited my mother |
When I learned that my 71-year-old mother was playing Scrabble – a word game – against herself, I knew I had to do something. My husband suggested we give her a computer to play against. I wasn’t sure my mother was ready for it. After all, it had taken 15 years to persuade her to buy an electric cooker. Even so, we packed up our old computer and delivered it to my parents’home. And so began my mother’s adventure in the world of computers.
It also marked the beginning of an unusual teaching task for me. I’ve taught people of all ages, but I never thought I would be teaching my mother how to do anything. She has been the one teaching me all my life: to cook and sew; to enjoy the good times and put up with the bad. Now it was my turn to give something back.
It wasn’t easy at the beginning. There was so much to explain and to introduce. Slowly but surely, my mother caught on, making notes in a little notebook. After a few months of Scrabble and other games, I decided it was time to introduce her to word processing(文字处理). This proved to be a bigger challenge(挑战) to her, so I gave her some homework I asked her to write me a letter, using different letter types, colors and spaces.
“Are you this demanding with your kindergarten pupils?” she asked.
“No, of course not,” I said. “They already know how to use a computer.”
My mother isn’t the only one experiencing a fast personal growth period. Thanks to the computer, my father has finally got over his phone allergy(过敏反应). For as long as I can remember, any time I called, my mother would answer. Dad and I have had more phone conversations in the last two months than we’ve had in the past 20 years.
49. What does the author do?
A. She is a cook. B. She is a teacher.
C. She is a housewife. D. She is a computer engineer.
50. The author decided to give her mother a computer .
A. to let her have more chances to write letters
B. to support her in doing her homework
C. to help her through the bad times D. to make her life more enjoyable
51. The author asked her mother to write her a letter .
A. because her mother had stopped using the telephone
B. because she wanted to keep in touch with her mother
C. so that her mother could practice what she had learned
D. so that mother could be free from housework
52. After the computer was brought home, the author’s father .
A. lost interest in cooking B. took more phone calls
C. played more games D. began to use it |
I was 9 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1994, but I can remember my mother"s words as if it were yesterday: “Kerrel, I don"t want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him.”
AIDS wasn"t something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together anymore, and my dad lived alone. For a while, he could take care of himself. But when I was 12, his condition worsened. My father"s other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.
We couldn"t afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no money for school supplies and often couldn"t even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost, the teacher"s words muffled as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage.
I did not share my burden (负担) with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.
I had known that he was going to die, but after so many years of keeping his condition a secret, I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days. Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the nonprofit National AIDS Support. That day, she kept me on the phone for hours. I was so lucky to find someone who cared. she saved my life.
I was 15 when my father died. He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to anyone, even me. He didn"t want to call attention to AIDS. I do.
60. What does Kerrel tell us about her father?
A. He had stayed in the hospital since he fell ill.
B. He depended on the nurses in his final days.
C. He worked hard to pay for his medication.
D. He told no one about his disease.
61. What can we learn from the underlined sentence?
A. Kerrel couldn"t understand her teacher.
B. Kerrel had special difficulty in hearing.
C. Kerrel was too troubled to focus on the lesson.
D. Kerrel was too tired to hear her teacher"s words.
62. Why did Kerrel keep her father"s disease a secret?
A. She was afraid of being looked down upon. B. She thought it was shameful to have AIDS.
C. She found no one willing to listen to her. D. She wanted to obey her mother.
63. Why did Kerrel write the passage?
A. To tell people about the sufferings of her father.
B. To show how little people knew about AIDS.
C. To draw people"s attention to AIDS.
D. To remember her father. |
At a few minutes past five, Dave noted that the blanket of darkness was lifting. He was just able to make out the heavier masses that eventually appeared as the familiar trees that lined the road at the base of the hill. The upper reaches of the sky showed lighter shades of gray.
Dave got out of bed quietly and dressed quickly. He mixed a spoonful of instant chocolate into a glass of cold water, and his impatience forced him to finish the drink in gulps.
As he walked down toward the lake, Dave paused to reach for the fishing pole and gear box on the bench where he had left them the night before.
By the time he reached the small boat, a thick white mist (雾气) had spread over the surface of the water. He stepped into the boat, sat down, and rowed out of the weed beds that lined the edge of the shore.
The outer fringe (边缘) of the lake disappeared as the boat moved forward noiselessly. All he could see was the enveloping whiteness. He could not tell where the boat and the surrounding air met the surface of the lake.
Dave rowed steadily ahead, relying on a mental picture of the surroundings. Then the mist began to rise, slowly. It soon rested inches above the still surface of the lake. The heavy silence was now being broken by the fish breaking through the surface as they leaped out of the water for low-flying insects.
The magic time had arrived. Dave raised his pole. Dawn was broken. He was excited with expectancy.
39. Dave got up early in the morning to ______
A. enjoy the scene of the lake B. seek adventure at the lake
C. go fishing in the lake D. take a walk by the lake
40. According to the story, which of the following is TRUE?
A. Dave broke the quietness of the lake. B. Dave was familiar with the surroundings.
C. Dave took a picture of the lake with him. D. Dave forgot the fishing pole at the beginning.
41. The underlined word “It” in Paragraph 6 refers to ______
A. fish B. boat C. silence D. mist
42. What can we learn from the end of the story?
A. Dave was hopeful of catching a lot of fish. B. Dave wished the weather would be better.
C. Dave was happy that dawn was broken. D. Dave expected someone else would come. |
Getting paid to talk about the World Cup is a great job. I’m not a football commentator(评论员),though-just an English teacher in Japan.
I came to Japan two years ago, and didn"t think I would stay, but Japan has that effect on you. People often end up living here longer than they planned. I think it’s best to teach in a biggest city where there are other foreigners to mix with, rather than a small town where English teachers often complain of feeling like a goldfish in a bowl. Many people choose to live in Tokyo, of course, which is good for the nightlife factor. But I’d say that for general quality of living, cities of neither too large nor too small, like Sapporo where I live, are better choices.
I teach English privately, which means I’m my own boss. If you want to devote yourself to private teaching, it’s well worth doing a TEFL course first, because your lessons will be much better for it. The problem with private teaching is finding students; it took me a year to build up a full schedule(日程表)of private lessons, so I started out teaching in schools part-time.
Most of my foreign friends here work full-time for big English conversation schools. The salary is fine to live on. But whether you can save money depends on how much going out and traveling you do here.
The schools are reluctant to take time off –even teachers with tickets for the England-Argentina game had trouble getting the day off.
56.From the passage we know in Japan the write likes to live in_______.
A.Tokyo B.a small town C.a city of middle site D.a big city
57.According to the writer, one had better________first to do private teaching better.
A.take a TEFL course B.decide his or her own lessons
C.find students D.build up a full schedule
58.The underlined sentence in the second paragraph implies that_______.
A.there are many foreigners in Japan B.Japan is good for nightlife
C.they can teach English privately in Japan
D.Japan has something more attractive than expected
59.The underlined word“reluctant”in the passage may probably mean_____.
A.kind B.unwilling C.free D.careless |
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