Studies show that laughter is something that makes you feel calm or relaxed for both physical and psychological wounds though it may seem futile to laugh in the face of pain and fear.

When Dan Rather interviewed comedian Bill Cosby just one week after his son, Ennis, was killed, Cosby said, “I think it is time for me to tell people that we have to laugh. You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, you can survive it.”

Call it a flashlight for dark times: laughter just seems to adjust attitude better than anything else. Inspirational speaker Steve Rizzo recalls a TV interview with an injured firefighter a few days after 9.11．The man had fallen more than 30 stories in one of the towers and had broken a leg. Everyone was crying, and the reporter asked, “How is it that you’ve come out of this alive?” He looked at her and without missing a beat, said, “Look, lady, I’m from New York and I’m a firefighter; that’ all you need to know.”

“Everyone laughed and though the laughter was only a couple of seconds,” says Rizzo. “Sometimes that’s all you need to catch your second breath. Laughter gives you that couple of seconds. You’re sending a message to your brain, and the message is: If you can still laugh even a little among the pain, you are going to be OK.”

Of course, there is a difference between laughing off a serious situation and laughing off the fear that results. The firefighter was doing the latter, states Rizzo, the author of Becoming a Humorous Being, and so should we. “If there is anything we have learnt from 9.11, it’s how precious life really is,” she says. “We have to send a message that our spirit won’t die. One important thing that unites us is our ability to laugh.”　

60．The writer uses the examples of the comedian and the firefighter to show　　　　　　 .

　 A．laughter is a good way to get rid of pain and fear

　 B．laughter is the best way to cure psychological wounds

　 C．it is your attitude that decides whether you can survive the pain or not

　 D．laughing off a serious situation is different from laughing off the fear that results

61．We can infer from the passage that Steve Rizzo is　　　　　　　　　　　 .

　 A．a reporter B．a soldier　　 C．a firefighter　　 D．a doctor

62．The underlined word futile in the first paragraph means　　　　　　　 .

　 A．hopeless　　　　　　 B．useless

C．careless　　　　　　 D．worthless 　

63．From the passage, we can know that Americans are　　　　　　　　 .

　 A．really inspired after 9.11　　　　　　　　　　 B．hardly united after 9.11

C．nearly surprised by 9.11　　　　　　 D．greatly hurt by 9.11

It doesn't matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That's what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true ? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.

Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day. They never saw Herpin sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.

The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason ? No one could be sure. Herpin died at the age of 94.

1. The main idea of this passage is that _______.

A. large numbers of people do not need sleep

B. a person was found who actually didn't need any sleep

C. everyone needs some sleep to stay alive[来源:.COM]

D. people can live longer by trying not to sleep

2.The doctors came to visit Herpin, expecting to _______.

A. cure him of his sleeplessness　　

B. find that his sleeplessness was not really true

C. find a way to free people from the need of sleeping

D. find out why some old people didn't need any asleep

3.After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin _______.

A. was too old to need any sleep                     B. often slept in a chair

C. needed no sleep at all                         D. needed some kind of sleep

4.One reason that might explain Herpin's sleeplessness was _______.

A. that he hadn't got a bed　

B. that he had gradually got tired of the sleeping habit

C. his mother's injury before he was born　　　　

D. his magnificent physical condition

 

Stepping into a pool of water is common enough, but who could ever imagine stepping into a pool of fish? In February of 1974, Bill Tapp, an Australian farmer, saw a rain of fish that covered his farm. How surprised he must have been when he heard many fish hitting against his roof!

　　 What caused this strange occurrence? This is a question that had long puzzled people who study fish. The answer turned out to be a combination of wind and storm.

　　When it is spring in the northern part of the world, it is fall in Australia. Throughout the autumn season, terrible storms arise and rains flood the land. The strong winds sweep over Australia like huge vacuum cleaners, collecting seaweed, pieces of wood, and even schools of fish. Strong winds may carry these bits of nature for many miles before dropping them on fields, houses, and astonished people.

　　Although they seem unusual, fish-falls occur quite frequently in Australia. When Bill Tapp was asked to describe the scene of fish, he remarked, “They look like millions of dead birds falling down.” His statement is not surprising. The wonders of the natural world are as common as rain. Nature, with its infinite wonders, can create waterfalls that flow upward and fish that fall out of the sky.

　　56. What is this passage about?

　　A. A sad story. 　　　　　　　　　　　　B. A rain of fish.

　　C. Australia’s northern part.　　　　　D. The damage done by floods.

　　57. Fish-falls occur in Australia_________ .

　　A. quite often 　　　　　　B. on large farms

　　C. only in winter　　　　　D. when the air is calm

　　58. It is a known fact that ________.

　　A. one should watch where one steps

　　B. Bill Tapp is a scientist who studies farming

　　C. the natural world can never create waterfalls that fall upward

　　D. the seasons in the southern part are different from those in the northern part

　　59. The word “infinite” is closest in meaning to _________.

　　A. easy 　　　B. difficult 　　　C. countless 　　　D. dangerous

My father often works very harD．And he has   1  to see a film. Here I’ll tell you   2   about him.

　　One afternoon, when he finished his work and   3   go home, he found a film ticket under the   4  on his desk. He thought he   5   to have not much work to do that day and   6   was quite wonderful to pass the   7   at the cinemA．So he came back home and   8   finished his supper. Then he said   9   to us and left.

　　But to our   10   , he came back about half an hour later, I   11   him what was the matter. He smiled and told us about   12   funny thing that had happened at the cinema.

　　When my father was sitting in his seat, a   13   came to my father’s and said that the seat was   14   . Ｍy father was surpriseD．He took out the ticket   15   looked at it carefully. It was Row17,   16  . And then he looked at the seat. It was the same. So he asked her    17    her ticket. She took out the ticket at once and the seat shown in it was Row 17, Seat 3.

　　  18    ? What’s the matter with all this? While they were wondering suddenly the woman said, “The   19    of the tickets are different.” So they looked at the ticket more carefully. After a while, my father said, “Oh,    20   , I made a mistake. My ticket is for the film a month ago. Take this seat, please.” With these words, he left the cinema.

1．  A．little money    B．much money    C．little time        D．much time

2．  A．a funny story   B．a good story     C．an old story     D．a strange story

3．  A．was to     B．was about to     C．had to      D．ought

4．  A．box B．book C．glass        D．paper

5．  A．happened        B．liked C．pretended  D．wanted

6．  A．it      B．this   C．that   D．which

7．  A．morning B．afternoon  C．day   D．evening

8．  A．early       B．quietly      C．quickly     D．suddenly

9．  A．hello       B．good-bye  C．good evening   D．good night

10．A．disappointment       B．joy    C．sorrow      D．surprise

11．A．asked       B．explained  C．told   D．wanted

12．A．a      B．one   C．some       D．the

13．A．man        B．woman     C．doctor      D．nurse

14．A．hers B．his    C．taken       D．wrong

15．A．and B．but    C．or     D．so

16．A．Seat1       B．Seat2 C．Seat3       D．Seat4

17．A．it bring    B．to get       C．to see       D．to show

18．A．Why        B．How  C．When      D．where

19．A．designs    B．colors       C．prices       D．owners

20．A．I’m sad    B．I’m sorry  C．I’m wrong      D．I’m worried

Years ago, I lived in a building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her seated by her window each afternoon, sewing or reading.

After several months had gone by, I began to notice that her window was dirty. Everything was unclear through the dirty window .I would say to myself, “I wonder why that woman doesn’t wash her window .It really looks terrible.”

One bright morning I decided to clean my flat, including washing the window on the inside.

Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was clearly visible. Her window was clean!

Then it dawned on me. I had been criticizing(批评) her dirty window, but all the time I was watching hers through my own dirty window.

That was quite an important lesson for me. How often had I looked at and criticized others through the dirty window of my heart, through my own shortcomings?

Since then, whenever I wanted to judge(评判) someone, I asked myself first ,“Am I looking at him through my own dirty window?” Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world about me more clearly.

1.The writer couldn’t see everything clearly through the window because_____.

A．the woman’s window was dirty

B．the writer’s window was dirty

C．the woman lived nearby

D．the writer was near-sighted

2.The writer was surprised that ________.

A．the woman was sitting by her window

B．the woman’s window was clean.

C．the woman did cleaning in the afternoon

D．the woman’s window was still terrible

3.“ It dawned on me” probably means “______”.

A．I began to understand it	B．it cheered me up
C．I knew it grew light	D．it began to get dark

4. It’s clear that________.

A．the writer had never met the woman before

B．the writer often washed the window

C．they both worked as cleaners

D．they lived in a small town

5. From the passage, we can learn_________.

A．one shouldn’t criticize others very often

B．one should often make his windows clean

C．one must judge himself before he judges others

D．one must look at others through his dirty window