Though he wore his whiskers (颊须) only four years, today we can hardly think of Abraham Lincoln without them. He often talked about the little girl in Westfield, New York, who suggested in a letter that he grow the famous whiskers. And he would add, “Sometimes a small thing can change our lives!”
Grace Bedell sat in her room looking at a picture of Lincoln. Her little lamp threw shadows on the picture. A frame (框) of small shadows lay around the thin face and covered the hollow cheeks (面颊). “Whiskers!” she thought.
“How nice!” she said to herself. “There will be more people to elect him President if he lets his whiskers grow. Somebody ought to tell him.” She reached for a pen and began to write the letter.
On February 16 of the following year a special train carried the newly elected President Lincoln to the White House. The train stopped briefly at a station near Grace’s town. At the station Lincoln was speaking to a large crowd, among whom were the Bedell family.
Lincoln continued his speech, “I have a little friend in this place,” he said. “That little lady told me how to improve my appearance, and I want to thank her. If she is present, I would like to speak to her. Her name is Grace Bedell.”
Grace’s father led her forward to Lincoln. She looked and laughed happily, for up there on his face were the whiskers.
If you visit Springfield, Illinois, today you will see the house in which Abraham Lincoln used to live. On the wall of a room hangs a piece of paper covered with a child’s handwriting: “Dear sir...”
【小题1】Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

A．Why Lincoln Grew Whiskers

B．A Little Girl’s Letter to Lincoln

C．How Lincoln Becamse President of the U. S.

D．Lincoln’s Great Kindness to Children

【小题2】Grace suggested Lincoln growing whiskers because she supposed ______.

A．he looked terrible without whiskers around his face

B．he would look better with whiskers around his thin face

C．no one would elect him President if he had no whiskers

D．he would be famous with whiskers around his thin face

【小题3】Grace’s idea that Lincoln should grow whiskers came from ______.

A．the lamp	B．Lincoln’s hollow cheeks
C．the picture of Lincoln	D．the shadows on the picture

【小题4】When Lincoln said “Sometimes a small thing can change our lives”, what he really meant was that ______.

A．his whiskers had helped him to become President of the U. S.

B．one should pay attention to small things in one’s life

C．a little child’s advice had helped to improve his appearance

D．a child could play an important part in politics

【小题5】Which of the following did Grace most likely tell Lincoln in her letter?

A．Her school.

B．Her problems.

C．Her age.

D．Her friends.

About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table. I couldn’t help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked: “So, how have you been?” And the boy—who could not have been more than seven or eight years old—replied, “Frankly, I’ve been feeling a little depressed lately.”
This incident stuck in my mind because it confirmed my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were “depressed”, that is, in low sprits, until we were in high school.
Undoubtedly a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike anymore. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.
Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists. Why?
Human development is based not only on born biological states, but also on patterns of access to social knowledge. Movement from one social role to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new status. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages: traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.
In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation（揭示）machine has been installed in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information to all viewers alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more vivid moving pictures.
Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information to which children have access. Reading and writing involve a complex code of symbols that must be memorized and practiced. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.
【小题1】According to the author, feeling depressed is________.

A．a sure sign of a mental problem in a child

B．a mental state present in all humans, including children

C．something that cannot be avoided in children’s mental development

D．something hardly to be expected in a young child

【小题2】Traditionally, a child is supposed to learn about the adult world________.

A．through connection with society

B．gradually and under guidance

C．naturally without being taught

D．through watching television

【小题3】According to the author, that today’s children seem adultlike results from ________.

A．the widespread influence of television

B．the poor arrangement of teaching content

C．the fast pace of human scientific development

D．the rising standard of living

【小题4】What does the author think of communication through print for children?

A．It enables children to gain more social information.

B．It develops children’s interest in reading and writing.

C．It helps children to read and write well.

D．It can control what children are to learn.

【小题5】What does the author think of the change in today’s children?

A．He feels their adultlike behavior is so funny

B．He thinks the change worthy of note.

C．He considers it a rapid development.

D．He seems to be upset about it.

Senior citizens are permitted to travel cheaply on a bus if they have a special card. Women may get cards when they are sixty.
Mrs. Matthews lived in the country but she went into town once a week to buy food and other things for the house, and she usually went by bus. She always had to pay the full price for her ride.
Then she reached the age of sixty and got her senior citizen’s card, but when she used it for the first time on the bus, it made her feel very old.
The bus driver had often seen her traveling on the bus before, and he noticed that she was feeling unhappy, so after she had paid her money, he winked at her and whispered, “Don’t forget to give your mother’s card back to her when you see her again.”
Mrs. Matthews was very happy when she heard this.
【小题1】Senior citizens in the story refer to       .

A．those who have special cards

B．old people with special cards

C．people who hold high positions in the government

D．those who wanted to travel cheaply

【小题2】Women over sixty       .

A．don’t have to pay for taking buses

B．pay less for their ride if they have a special card

C．have to pay the full price for their ride

D．have to pay their special card

【小题3】Mrs. Matthews used to pay the full price for her ride because    .

A．she didn’t know the rule

B．she wasn’t old enough

C．she didn’t know where to get the card

D．she had reached sixty but had not got her senior citizen card

【小题4】Mrs. Matthews felt unhappy on the bus because      .

A．she still had to pay for the ride

B．the card wasn’t hers

C．she felt she was now an old woman

D．the driver found out she was not honest

【小题5】The driver whispered to her      .

A．in order to make her feel younger

B．because he thought that she shouldn’t have borrowed her mother’s card

C．because he wanted her to pay the full amount

D．because he knew her mother was still alive

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most loved children’s books of all time, and many adults enjoy it as well. It tells the story of a young girl named Alice, who follows a rabbit entering a magical world called Wonderland. She has many experiences which seem to change the rules of reasoning or common sense. The popularity of the book comes from its imagination, interesting story, and art work.
The writer of the book is Lewis Carroll. In fact, Lewis Carroll was not the writer’s real name. His real name was Charles Dodgson. One day, he took a boat ride down the Thames River to have a picnic with three little girls who were friends of the family. To keep them entertained on the ride, he told them a story in which Alice, the middle child, was the main character. They enjoyed the story very much.
Charles later wrote the story down under the name Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and gave it to Alice as a Christmas present. Later, he gave a copy to his friend George MacDonald. George read it to his children and they loved it. George suggested to Charles that he make a book from his story. Charles then wrote more parts to the story until it was around 35,000 words. It was first printed in 1866, with art work by John Tenniel, under the name Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The book was an immediate success. One of its first fans was Queen Victoria. She immediately requested a collection of all of Lewis Carroll’s works. She was surprised to find that they included many works on math. In fact, Charles Dodgson was a highly respected mathematician. This can be seen in many puzzles and plays on reasoning that appear in his books and poems.
Since the story was first printed, it has kept selling up to the present day. It has been translated into over fifty languages and has had several movies based on it.
【小题1】The passage is mainly about _________.

A．Charles’ family life

B．the birth of a book and its lasting influences

C．a magical world called Wonderland

D．a girl’s adventurous experiences

【小题2】Who first had the idea of making a book from the story “Alice Adventures Under Ground”?

A．Alice

B．Charles

C．George

D．John

【小题3】Which of the following is the right order of the passage?
a. Charles gave his story to Alice as a Christmas present.
b. Charles had a picnic with three little girls on the Thames.
c. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first printed in 1866.
d. More parts were added to the story by Charles.
e. The book won a large number of fans.

A．c-b-a-d-e

B．c-a-b-e-d

C．b-a-d-c-e

D．b-a-c-e-d

It was graduation day at the university where I work and a beautiful day quite unlike the first graduation I attended as a young professor. On that cold day years ago, as we watched the students walking into the hall, one of my colleagues（同事）turned to me and said, “Graduation will be one of the happiest and one of the saddest time of your life.” At my request, he answered, “Because the students you have got to know have to leave.”
As years went by, my previous confusion about my colleague’s words no longer existed. When I came across naughty students, I had to rethink why I chose to be a teacher. It obviously isn’t the money. Once a former computer science student of mine called me, asking me if I wanted to have a change. He was working at Nintendo Corporation. His salary was higher than my present one, though I have more education and have worked for over 10 years. With my programming skills, he said he could get me hired, I thanked him, but refused his kind offer.
A few days before this graduation, while working on final grades, I found a note a student had slipped in with her homework. She thanked me for being her teacher and said the things she had learned in my class – not about math, but about life – would be things she would remember long after the math skills had faded away. As I finished reading, I remembered why I had become a teacher.
Now, on this sunny graduation day, as I again observed the sea of blue hats and gowns, I did so with a deeper sense of satisfaction – I will always be grateful that I am a teacher.
【小题1】Hearing his colleague’s description of graduation for the first time, the author ______.

A．quite agreed with his colleague	B．was very puzzled
C．thought it very funny	D．was very sad

【小题2】The computer science student called the author because he ______.

A．wanted to inform the author of his present job

B．wanted the author to share his joy and satisfaction

C．tried to persuade the author to work with him

D．thought the author wasn’t fit to be a teacher

【小题3】The underlined phrase blue hats and gowns refers to ______.

A．the new graduates	B．the university colleagues
C．life memories	D．decorations in the hall

【小题4】We can learn from the text that the author ______.

A．was only a young professor

B．didn’t do well in his work

C．taught his students more about life than math

D．was content with the job as a teacher

My daughter recently asked me what a Travel Agency does. There is one located on our street and it has just been completely rebuilt. I told her that they helped people book their trips and vacations. “Why haven’t we ever been in there?” she wanted to know. “Because we do everything ourselves online these days” I explained. “But why do it yourself if other people want to do it for you?” she wondered out loud.
The answer is that the travel agency makes a little bit of money on each ticket you book through them. If you book your ticket yourself, online, you save that money. Saving money sounds great except that when you think about it you typically spend three evenings comparing prices to end up saving $30 on a $300 trip. All those $30 discounts add up of course so I guess we should be happy with that.
Still, how bad is it really to pay someone $30 and trust them to buy you something decent? Wouldn’t you say your free evenings are worth more than $10 a piece?
Consider books for a moment. Buying your book at Amazon saves you maybe 30% to 40% on each book. Add to that the convenience of shopping from home and getting the package delivered to your home address. So far so good.
Unfortunately that does mean you spend way too much time browsing Amazon. com while you could do something fun instead. Like maybe reading an actual book?
Then the package arrives and you aren’t home and end up having to pick it up at the local post- office. All in all I wonder how much time I end up investing in the whole process.
Time sounds free, but to most of us, it is more valuable than money.
The Internet Economy promised to get rid of the middle-men and we loved it. Somehow, I’m starting to get the feeling that we ourselves ended up doing the work of that middle-men we were so eager to get rid of.
In any project you can always pick two of these: fast, cheap or good. We seem to have focused a lot on ‘cheap’ and ‘good’ but the extra time we need to invest to keep it ‘fast’ comes out of our own pockets.
You can always make more money but you can never make more time.
【小题1】What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．It mainly shows the curiosity of the author’s daughter.

B．It indicates that the Internet has influenced our daily life.

C．It tells us the importance of a travel agency.

D．It shows why people need a travel agency.

【小题2】What’s the author’s attitude towards the Internet Economy?

A．The author thinks online shopping saves time and is a convenient way to buy products.

B．The author worries about sending personal information over the internet.

C．The author doesn’t think online shopping is satisfactory in every way.

D．The author likes the convenience but is concerned about the e-commerce environment.

【小题3】What’s the best title for the passage?

A．The convenience of the Internet Economy.

B．How to save money in the Internet Economy.

C．The hidden cost of the Internet Economy.

D．How to save time in the Internet Economy.

Last Sunday, I waked into the house in the afternoon to find my brother rushing around in a hurry. As soon as I took my coat off, my little brother placed a bunch of papers in my hands and asked me to fold them up so they could fit into an envelope as quickly as possible. He said it needed to get done quickly before it turned dark.
I was a little surprised that something could be so urgent on a Sunday. It wasn’t until I was halfway through that I actually looked at what I was folding. After I read it, it put the biggest smile on my face. It was a lovely letter to all the residents （居民）in my neighborhood. My brother was asking everyone to let him know if anyone needed help. He left his contact information and said that anyone that needed help should get in touch with him and he would figure something out. He also asked people to get in touch if they were able to help out.
London received an unusual amount of snow last week, and the city was completely under- prepared for it. So it was quite difficult to get anywhere. Only the major roads had been cleared, and smaller roads and pavements could be quite treacherous. There are a good number of old people in our little community. So my brother thought that the snow may have posed （造成）some difficulty for some of them, particularly because we live on a hill.
A few elderly people got in touch with him asking for help for things they needed. One of them was especially grateful because his caregiver couldn’t make it. To our surprise, he got more responses from people offering to help. Then he received help from people who wanted to help. Everyone was really touched and wrote to my brother wonderful email. One of our neighbors wrote email saying that although she wasn’t able to help, she was “very proud of having a neighbor like him who puts other people’s interests first.”
【小题1】The author’s brother wrote the letter to _______.

A．ask for help from his neighbors

B．give a hand to those in need of help

C．require his neighbors to clear the snow

D．raise money for the old people in his community

【小题2】What can we learn from the text?

A．Few people were willing to help out.

B．The snow was unexpectedly heavy.

C．Most residents in the community are elderly people.

D．The community was completely cut off from the outside world.

【小题3】The underlined word “treacherous” in Paragraph 3 probably means “_______”.

A．dirty

B．dangerous

C．safe

D．crowded

【小题4】 One of their neighbors sent email to the author’s brother to ________.

A．express thanks	B．lend a hand
C．show appreciation	D．ask for help

It was one of the happiest times of my life. I was 29 and had just received my bachelor’s degree, graduating with honors despite working two jobs and being a wife and mother. My parents and five-year-old son were in the audience when I walked onto the stage at Ashland University to get my diploma. I was so excited and proud to be starting a teaching career and contributing more to my family’s well-being.
But when I got home that evening, there was a note from my husband written on the back of an envelope. It basically said he had come to get his clothes and wouldn’t be back. We’d been having trouble, but the finality of that note still came as a shock. He had emptied our bank account. We were horribly in debt. I had quit my previous jobs in expectation of interviewing for a teaching position. Plus, I was eight months pregnant.
I had my son, and I was about to bring a new life into the world, so despite my deep sadness, I had to go on. The next morning, I woke up, put my feet on the floor, took a deep breath, fixed breakfast, and basically did everything I always did. I used my routine to keep me moving. After being in the military for six years, I guess you can say I relied on my training, like all good soldiers do in tough situations. One small step after one small step was the way I bounced back(恢复原状).
And in the seven years since, I’ve continued moving forward. I got a job as a kindergarten teacher, earned a master’s degree in education, and watched my babies grow to twelve and seven. I certainly would never have chosen to put them through this, but looking back, I’m glad it happened to me when it did. It helped me find my voice and myself a lot sooner. It helped me grow independent, confident, and strong—things I’m hopefully instilling(灌输) now in my children.
【小题1】After getting her bachelor’s degree, the author expected to ________.

A．become a teacher	B．be a wife and mother
C．work two jobs	D．get divorced

【小题2】What do we know about the author from Paragraph 2?

A．Her husband wrote a note to congratulate her on her graduation.

B．She had just been to a job interview when her husband left her.

C．Her husband paid off all the debts from the bank.

D．She was going to have another baby soon.

【小题3】The author’s hardships in life made her ________.

A．become confident and independent

B．work harder in the kindergarten

C．use her routine to move forward

D．feel pleased with what happened to her

【小题4】 It can be inferred from the passage that __________.

A．The author’s parents helped her a lot

B．The author received further education later

C．The author earned a master’s degree when she was 29

D．The author didn’t know how to deal with marriage

【小题5】What helped the author to pull through her hard time?

A．The divorce with her husband.

B．Her fellow soldiers in the army.

C．Her decision to find a new job.

D．A strong mind and love for her kids.

When a first-time father saw his newborn son, he immediately noticed the baby's ears obviously standing out from his head. He expressed his concern to the nurse that some children might be made fun of his child. A doctor examined the baby and reassured the new dad that his son was healthy---- the ears presented only a small problem with its appearance.
But the nervous father continued. He wondered if the child might suffer psychological effects of ridicule, or if they should consider plastic surgery(整形手术). The nurse assured him that it was really no problem, and he should just wait to see if the boy grows into his ears.
The father finally felt more optimistic about his child, but now he worried about his wife's reaction to those large ears. She had been delivered by operation, and had not yet seen the child.
“She doesn't take things as easily as I do,” he said to the nurse.
By this time, the new mother was settled in the recovery room and ready to meet her new baby. The nurse went along with the dad to lend some support in case this inexperienced mother became upset about her baby's large ears.
The baby was in a blanket(毛毯) with his head covered for the short trip through the cold air-conditioned corridor. The baby was placed in his mother's arms, who eased the blanket back so that she could look at her child for the first time.
She took one look at her baby's face and looked to her husband and gasped, “Oh, Honey! Look! He has your ears!”
No problem with Mom. She married those ears...and she loves the man to whom they are attached.
The poet Kahlil Gibran said, “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” It's hard to see the ears when you're looking into the light.
【小题1】When the father first saw his baby, he was worried that________.

A．The baby might not grow up healthily.

B．The baby might be laughed at by others.

C．The baby might disappoint its mother.

D．the baby might have mental problems.

【小题2】According to the doctor and nurse, the baby’s ears________.

A．could not function well.

B．looked the same as others.

C．only caused a small problem.

D．needed to have plastic surgery.

【小题3】What is true about the baby’s mother?

A．She blamed her husband for the baby’s big ears.

B．She was the first to discover the baby’s large ears.

C．She suggested having an operation on the baby immediately.

D．She found something similar between the baby and its father.

【小题4】What does the underlined word they refer to in the last but on paragraph(倒数第2段)?

A．The ears.

B．The parents.

C．The doctor and nurse.

D．The problems

【小题5】What’s the function of the last paragraph?

A．To advise readers to listen carefully.

B．To draw a conclusion from the story.

C．To criticize the wrong attitude to physical beauty.

D．To stress the importance of doctor-patient relationship.

Catch yourself daydreaming while washing the dishes again? If this happens often you probably have a pretty capable working memory and a sharper brain, new research suggests.
This mind wandering, it seems, actually gives your working memory a workout. Working memory is the mental work space that allows the brain to juggle multiple thoughts at the same time. The more working memory a person has, the more daydreaming they can do without forgetting the task at hand.
Researchers studied groups of people from the University of Wisconsin－Madison community, ranging in age from 18 to 65. The volunteers were asked to perform simple tasks, like pressing a button every time they took a breath or clicking in response to a letter popping up on a computer screen; these tasks were so easy that their minds were likely to wander, the researchers figured.
The researchers checked in periodically, asking the participants if their minds were on task or wandering. When the task was over, they measured each participant's working memory capacity by having them remember letters while doing math questions. Though all participants performed well on the task, the researchers noticed that the individuals who indicated their minds had wandered more than others also scored higher on the working memory test.
“What this study seems to suggest is that, when circumstances for the task aren't very difficult, people who have additional working memory resources allocate them to think about things other than what they're doing，” said Jonathan Smallwood, a study researcher of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitve and Brain Science.
When our minds run out of working memory, these off－topic thoughts can take the main stage without us consciously meaning them to; for instance, arriving at home with no memory of the actual trip, or suddenly realizing that they've turned several pages in a book without understanding any of the words.
“It's almost like your attention was so absorbed in the mind wandering that there wasn't any left over to remember your goal to read，” study researcher Daniel Levinson, said in a statement.
People with overall higher working memory were better able to stay focused when the task at hand required it. Those who had low working memory often had their thoughts drift away from the task, and did less well at it.
The findings add to past research suggesting these mind drifts can be positive moments. For instance, daydreaming has often been associated with creativity—researchers think that our most creative and inventive moments come when daydreaming. It's likely that the most intelligent among us also have high levels of working memory, Levinson noted.
【小题1】The word “juggle” in the second paragraph can be replaced by “________”．

A．handle

B．search

C．understand

D．distribute

【小题2】What can be concluded from Jonathan Smallwood's words?

A．People who often have daydreams probably own a pretty capable working memory.

B．On the working memory test, people with wandering minds will get high score.

C．Absorbed in the mind wandering, your attention left no space for your goal.

D．Dealing with some easy jobs, people with higher working memory will daydream.

【小题3】What is the best title of the passage?

A．Mind drifts are always positive.

B．Daydreaming is good for the mind.

C．Creative moments come with working memory.

D．The more daydreaming, the more effectively one works.