— I’m going to Paris next week.

— What a ________! So am I.

A．pity              B．coincidence        C．accident          D．chance

 

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

I recently heard a story about a famous scientist who had made several very important medical breakthroughs. He was being interviewed by a reporter who asked him    36   he thought he was able to be so much more    37   than the average person.

He    38   that it all came from a(n)   39   with his mother that occurred when he was about 2. He had been trying to remove milk from the fridge when he    40   the slippery(光滑的) bottle, its contents running all over the kitchen floor.

When his mother came in,    41   shouting at him or giving him a lecture, she said, "Robert, what a great and wonderful    42   you have made! I have    43   seen such a huge pool of milk. Well, the damage has already been    44  . Would you like to get down and    45   in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up?"

Indeed, he did. After a few minutes, his mother said, "Robert, whenever you make a mess like this, eventually you have to    46   everything to its proper order. So, how would you like to do that? We could use a sponge(海绵), a towel or a mop. Which do you prefer?" He chose the sponge.

His mother then said, "You know, what we have here is a    47   experiment in how to effectively carry a big milk bottle with two    48   hands. Let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if you can make it." The little boy learned that if he    49   the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it. What a wonderful    50  !

This scientist then remarked that it was at that moment that he knew he didn't need to be    51  to make mistakes. Instead, he learned that mistakes were just    52   for learning something new, which is,    53  , what scientific experiments are all about. Even if the experiment "doesn't   54  ," we usually learn something    55   from it.

36. A. why                          B. what                    C. when                    D. how

37. A. capable                      B. able                       C. creative                 D. original

38. A. responded                B. reacted                  C. recalled                 D. reminded

39. A. coincidence             B. experience            C. incident                       D. conflict

40. A. fell                                B. lost                          C. escaped                    D. dropped

41. A. rather than                 B. instead of                C. other than                 D. in place of

42. A. picture                      B. mass                      C. map                       D. mess

43. A. rarely                        B. happily                  C. frequently               D. angrily

44. A. obtained                    B. suffered                 C. done                       D. received

45. A. jump                         B. play                        C. enjoy                       D. draw

46. A. recover                      B. return                   C. restore                        D. regain

47. A. failed                             B. successful              C. fantastic               D. painful

48. A. strong                        B. tiny                       C. thin                       D. weak

49. A. controlled                B. possessed              C. seized                     D. grasped

50. A. example                     B. teaching                   C. lesson                      D. instruction

51. A. anxious                   B. nervous                  C. fearful                    D. afraid

52. A. situations                   B. opportunities            C. occasions                D. turns

53. A. after all                            B. above all                C. first of all                 D. in all

54. A. do                             B. finish                    C. go                        D. work

55. A. worthy                      B. costly                     C. valuable                   D. interesting

 

Don’t you think it interesting that there were strange coincidences(巧合) in the deaths of President Kennedy and President Lincoln? For example, John Kennedy was elected president in 1960 while Abraham Lincoln in 1860, between which was a hundred years. Both men were killed from behind, on black Friday , and with their wives on the spot. The two men were born exactly one hundred years away, as were their murderers, Lee Oawald and John Booth. Perhaps the strangest coincidence is that President Kennedy’s secretary , whose name was Lincoln, advised the president not to go to Dallas, where the president was shot. President Lincoln’s secretary, named Kennedy, advised the president not to go to the Ford Theatre, where the president met his death.

1.When President Lincoln and President Kennedy were killed, their wives were_______.

A. at the cinema     B. at home     C. behind them      D. with them

2.“Black Friday” means that ________.

A. the American used to be in black on the two Fridays.

B. the two Fridays saw sad happenings

C. it was dark when the two men were killed

D. it was cloudy when the two men were killed

3.Which of the following statements is true?

A. Lincoln’s death had something to do with Kennedy’s

B. There were one hundred years between the two presidents’ deaths

C. There were one hundred years from Lincoln’s taking office to Kennedy’s

D. The two secretaries were born on the same day

 

 It was a______ that he was born on his mother’s birthday.

       A. fact     B. satisfaction    C. coincidence     D. experience 

 

“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity,” said the American talk show host Oprah Winfrey. I’ve never watched her show, but when a self-made billionaire gives life advice it’s probably worth listening to.

Her point is that blind luck is very rare. You may have to be lucky to find a good job these days but that does not mean you should sit at home waiting for the opportunity to come to you. If you’re a Chinese, you may already be familiar with the tale of a farmer waiting by a tree stump(树桩) for a rabbit to run out and break its neck.

A book by the UK psychologist Richard Wiseman, called The Luck Factor, argues we can all make ourselves luckier. It’s not about going to a temple to burn some incense(香) hopes that the gods will give you good fortune; it’s practical advice you can follow each day.

Wiseman conducted an experiment as part of his studies. First he divided volunteers into two groups; those who said they were lucky in life and those who said they were not. He gave everyone a newspaper and asked them to look through it to count how many photographs it had inside. On average, the unlucky people took about two minutes to count the photographs while the lucky people took just seconds. Why? On the second page of the newspaper, a command, “Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper,” was written in big letters. The unlucky people mostly did not spot the message.

It’s easy to compare this situation to a young person looking for jobs in a local paper. They might search so hard for one type of position that they miss an even better opportunity. People who are “lucky”, in fact, keep an open mind and don’t go through the same routine every day.

I first came to China in 2002 when it was considered a rather strange thing to do. Like many foreigners, my plan was to teach English for one year. Seven years later, and still here, I’ve had many great opportunities such as writing for newspapers and magazines. I did not dream these would have been possible. I’ve also never been sick, had an accident, got into a fight or had problems with the police. Coincidence? After reading about Professor Wiseman’s studies I think not.

As Wiseman advises, I usually trust my own judgment. Your friends and parents may give you advice based on rational thinking, but it’s important to consider how you feel about each choice you make. Your feeling acts as a warning for a potential problem.

Finally, try to turn bad luck into good. Even if you do fall down and break a leg, the time spent at home can be used wisely to study English.

1.Which of the following proverbs most agrees with the writer’s point?

  A. Make the best of a bad job.

B. Rome was not built in a day.

C. All is not gold that glitters.

D. A good heart conquers ill fortune.

2.What do you know about Oprah Winfrey?

  A. She became famous through her family background.

B. She was very lucky and seldom suffered setbacks in her life.

C. She is a British talk show host.

D. She became successful by her own effort.

3. The writer quoted the Chinese tale of a farmer in order to show __________.

  A. luck is in your own hand

B. bad luck can turn into good

C. you should not sit at home waiting for the opportunity to come to you

D. man can conquer nature