He’s an old cobbler(修鞋匠) with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me,“I haven’t time. Take them to the other fellow on the main street. He’ll fix them for you right away.”
But I had my eyes on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman(手艺人).“No.”I replied,“The other fellow can’t do it well.”
“The other fellow”was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys —without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap(鞋带), you might as well just throw away the pair.
My man saw I wouldn’t give in, and he smiled. He wiped hands on his blue apron(围裙),looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said,“Come back in a week.”
I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.
“See what I can do?”he said with pride.“Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work.”
When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange dusty felt hat, his funny accent and his pride in his craft.
These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old way as long as it“pays”,when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption rather than a way to realize their abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.
【小题1】Which of the following is true about the old cobbler?
| A．He was equipped with the best repairing tools. |
| B．He was the only cobbler in the Marais. |
| C．He was proud of his skills. |
| D．He was a native Parisian. |
| A．nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him |
| B．it was difficult to communicate with this man |
| C．the man was very strange |
| D．the man was too old |
| A．realize their abilities | B．gain happiness |
| C．make money | D．gain respect |
| A．craftsmen make a lot of money | B．whatever you do, do it well |
| C．craftsmen need self-respect | D．people are born equal |
【小题1】C
【小题2】A
【小题3】C
【小题4】B
解析试题分析：文章大意：本文主要通过作者的修鞋经历，感受到这位修鞋匠为自己的手艺而自豪，从而引发不管做什么事就要做到最好，而不仅仅是为挣钱。
【小题1】C 细节题。根据文章第六段的“See what I can do?”he said with pride.“Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work.”可知the old cobbler以自己的手艺而自豪，故C正确。
【小题2】A 细节题。根据文章倒数第二段的his very strange dusty felt hat, his funny accent and his pride in his craft可知the old cobble做事很奇怪，故A正确。
【小题3】C 细节题。根据文章最后一段的in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption rather than a way to realize their abilities可知作者认为现在的人只为钱而工作，故C正确。
【小题4】B 细节题。根据文章最后一段的In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done可知人不管做什么事就要做到最好。故选C。
考点：考查故事类短文阅读
科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Jenny found her old bicycle at the back of the garage．It was a lot smaller than she remembered．When she sat on it and put her feet on the pedals，her knees nearly touched her chin. She then asked her dad for a new bicycle．
“Well，I’m sorry，but I can’t afford a bicycle now，“said Dad．“Why don’t you work and earn some money? You can save up for a bicycle yourself．”
Jenny began to work．That day she earned five dollars for cutting the grass and ten dollars for mowing the lawn for her dad．
That night Jenny went on the computer．She wrote“Gardening and Housework—Ten dollars an hour．Call Jenny at 23 Roseville Lane．“She decorated the page with pictures of cleaning and gardening equipment．She printed it fifty times．Then she posted the pages through all the doors on her street．
That week，Jenny was very busy! Lots of people had jobs to do，but they didn’t have time to do them．So they called Jenny．Every day，Jenny rushed home from schoo1．She did her homework quickly，and then she went out to work．
At the end of the week．she had$65! She told her father．
“That’s enough for a second hand bicycle.”he said．
“Yes，but if I work for one more week，I might have enough money for a new bike，“said Jenny．“In two more weeks，I could buy a really good bicycle! I think that's what I'll do. I want to have the best bicycle in the class，because I earn it myself!”
Jenny’s dad hugged her．“I think you learned something important．We appreciate things a lot more when we earn them．When we get something without earning it，we do not realize its true value．”
【小题1】What was the problem with Jenny’s old bicycle?
| A．It was broken． | B．It was too small． |
| C．Jenny didn't like it． | D．It was too dirty． |
| A．He had just bought Jenny a birthday present. |
| B．He was too busy． |
| C．He wanted to teach her a lesson． |
| D．He didn’t think it was a good idea． |
| A．＄10． | B．＄15． | C．＄65． | D．＄5． |
| A．She mailed letters to them． | B．She talked to all her neighbors． |
| C．she sent them an email． | D．She delivered messages by hand． |
| A．optimistic about making more money |
| B．grateful to her father for his advice |
| C．pleased because she had learnt a useful lesson |
| D．disappointed because she couldn’t afford a new bicycle |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
While the presence of rats in homes may cause anxiety and annoyance, they rarely result in driving out the residents. But that is exactly what happened to the inhabitants of the 10squaremile Hawadax Island off the coast of Alaska, almost 230 years ago. Now thanks to a fiveyear effort by scientists, the terribly silent “Rat Island” as it had been called for many years has been returned to its rightful owners ——birds!
Hawadax Island is part of a chain of volcanic islands in the Bering Sea called the Aleutian Islands. The rats that arrived there in 1780, when a Japanese ship carrying them broke down nearby, completely destroyed the native population because the environment of the island was not built to defend its animals from these predators. There isn't any tree on the Island, which meant that the birds were accustomed to building their nests low in the ground, giving the rodents(啮齿动物) easy access to both eggs and baby chicks. As years passed, the birds that had called the island home for thousands of years became endangered and eventually, disappeared completely.
In 2007, the U．S. FWS (Fish and Wildlife Service) started a serious plan to rid the island of the rats and try bringing back the beautiful birds that had once called it home. Given that there were an estimated 10,000 rodents inhabiting “Rat Island” and the fact that they reproduce rapidly, it was not an easy task. But by 2009, the Island was officially declared rat free!
Then slowly but surely, the birds began to return. Unfortunately, some of the pioneers were unintentionally killed from the leavings of the raticide, a poison that had been used to wipe out the rodents. But now it seems things are becoming more stable and the Island is starting to increasingly look like its former self. Before the transformation, “Hawadax”， also known as “Rat Island”， was a silent and ghostly place with bird bones, snail remains and rocks covered in rat feces(粪便)．
Today, birds' singing and flying in and out is a common sight. Tufted puffins and song sparrows, which had long disappeared, are gradually making their way back. Scientists have also been observing an increase in ground nesting and shorebirds. Though the Island is still not back to its full glory, the signs are encouraging and things can only get better, as time passes.
【小题1】The underlined word “that”in Para.1 probably refers to ________.
| A．the presence of rats |
| B．birds' being driven out |
| C．birds' returning to the island |
| D．residents' worrying about rats |
| A．this island was treeless |
| B．they nested randomly |
| C．they reproduced too rapidly |
| D．their chicks were extremely weak |
| A．has helped the island fully recovered |
| B．cost little but benefited greatly |
| C．involved poisoning the rats on a large scale |
| D．accomplished its goal after exactly 24 months |
| A．FWS Help Get Rare Birds Back to Alaska Island |
| B．Japanese Changed a Bird Paradise into Rat Island |
| C．FWS Plan to Drive Rats Out Of Rat Island |
| D．Alaska's Rat Island Returns to a Bird Paradise |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Sure. you know their names, possibly better than you know the name of the street you live on.
When the need comes, these names roll off our tongues like they were our own brothers. I am writing about the famous Webster s Dictionary and Roget s Thesaurus.
Webster s Dictionary. Many people can respond immediately: Noah Webster. We are aware that he is the father of the dictionary. But who was he? What did he do for a living? When did he live?
Noah was born in 1758, graduated from Yale University in 1778. and later graduated from law school He produced the first American dictionary in 1806 and published his influential work An American Dictionary of the English Language in l828. His interests led him to be a lexicographer (词典编纂者). textbook editor, author, Bible translator and spelling reformer. He also produced a large number of writings in medicine, mythology (神话), and the relationship of European and Asian languages. In addition, he .founded the first New York daily newspaper in 1793. He died in 1843.
Roget's Thesaurus. And it gives us The chance to learn about Roget, the man-Peter Mark Roget, And who? What? When?
Englishman Peter Roget, MD, was born in 1779. He studied medicine and mathematics at the University of Edinburgh. He is considered as the creator of the first-ever thesaurus (同义词典). It has been called one of the three most important books ever printed. along with the Bible and Webster s Dictionary. He began his work Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases in I 805 but did not publish it until 1852-47 years later. In his lifetime. he became a noted lecturer and writer on anatomy(解剖学 ). geology(地质学).bees，and more . When Roget died in 1869 at age 90. his son, John . took over the Thesaurus arid he gradually expanded it.
So now you know the two famous books. Not enough information? As well-known humourist James Thurber suggested in the title of his 1941 magazine short story about baseball, You Could Look It Up!
【小题1】The author states that "these names roll off our tongues" in order to show that people______.
| A．will learn from the two writers | B．have ignored the two writers |
| C．are familiar with the names | D．know a lot about the two |
| A．had many interests | B．studied medicine |
| C．were professors | D．liked baseball |
| A．attract more readers | B．come to a conclusion |
| C．encourage further research | D．provide background information |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Once, there was a woman who had so many problems, so many worries, so many troubles… that at times she felt she had more troubles than anyone else in the world!
She was depressed. She thought she could never overcome her troubles, so she decided to end her life. That night she went to sleep early and she planned to commit suicide the next morning. But that night she had a dream…
She found herself in a large cave, surrounded by gray bundles (包袱) of all shapes and sizes. Walking toward her was a woman with flowing long white hair.
“Who are you?” asked the dreamer, “and what is this place?”
“This is the cave of bundles of troubles and I am the keeper of the cave.”
“Bundles of troubles?”
“Yes,” the keeper explained, “each person who walks on the earth carries a bundle of troubles on their left shoulder.” The dreamer turned to look and there was a gray bundle on her left shoulder—it had been there all the time and she never noticed!
“If you wish,” the keeper continued,” you can take your bundle down and exchange it for another.”
“Really?” The woman lowered the bundle from her left shoulder. Oh, it felt so good to put it down. Then she picked up a beautiful bundle.
The keeper said, “Why don’t you open it and look inside?”
So the woman opened it and looked inside. “But these are the same troubles I brought here!”
The keeper of the cave smiled softly and nodded. “That’s usually what happens, but do not despair, for there is another bundle on your right shoulder that should help lighten your load.”
The woman turned and saw another bundle on her right shoulder. It had been there all the time and she never noticed! The woman took it down and opened it. Inside were her talents, her gifts, her hopes and opportunities. The woman felt her heart filled with joy and she looked up to thank the keeper of the cave, but she was gone; all were gone. And she found herself sitting up in her own bed with the morning sun streaming through the window, shining on her face.
【小题1】Why did the woman decide to end her life?
| A．Because there were two gray bundles on her shoulders. |
| B．Because she always had bad dreams at night. |
| C．Because the keeper of the cave told her to do so. |
| D．Because she felt she had too many troubles to overcome. |
| A．there were good things such as talents in beautiful bundles |
| B．each person carries a bundle on each shoulder |
| C．different bundles contain different troubles |
| D．it is impossible for people to take their bundles down from their shoulders |
| A．Delighted. | B．Moved. | C．Depressed. | D．Confused. |
| A．dreaming a dream can save people’s life |
| B．the bundles on our shoulders can make us happy |
| C．attitude towards life plays an important role in people’s life |
| D．we must ignore the troubles in life |
| A．She still felt depressed. |
| B．She committed suicide. |
| C．She looked for the keeper of the cave. |
| D．She didn’t want to end her life any more. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Joke l：
A man was sitting reading his papers when his wife hit him round the head with a frying pan． “What was that for?” the man asked．
The wife replied, “That was for the piece of paper with the name Jenny on it I found in your pocket．” The man then said, “When l was at the races last week Jenny was the name of the horse I bet on．” The wife apologized and went on with the housework． Three days later the man was watching TV when his wife hit him on the head with an even bigger frying pan, knocking him unconscious． Upon regaining consciousness the man asked why she had hit again． Wife replied, “Your horse phoned．”
Joke 2：
“Do you believe in life after death?” the boss asked one of his employees．
“Yes, sir, ” the new employee replied．
“Well, then, that makes everything just fine, ” the boss went on． “After you left early yesterday to go to your grandmother’s funeral． she stopped in to see you!”
Joke 3：
“Oh, I am happy to see you, ” the little boy said to his grandmother on his mother's side． “Now maybe daddy will do the trick he has been promising us． ” The grandmother was curious． “What trick is that?” she asked．
“I heard him tell mommy that he would climb the walls if you came to visit, ” the little boy answered．
Joke 4：
A woman’s husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day． One day, he signaled for her to come nearer． As she sat by him, he whispered, eyes full of tears, “You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times．
When I got fired, you were there to support me．
When my business failed, you were there．
When I got shot, you were by my side．
When we lost the house, you stayed right here．
When my health started failing, you were still by my side… You know what Martha?”
“What dear?” she gently asked, smiling as her heart began to fill with warmth．
“I’m beginning to think you’re bad luck…”
【小题1】The wife became angry suddenly in Joke 1 because __________．
| A．she had her frying pan burned while away |
| B．her husband made a bet on a horse but lost |
| C．her husband was carrying with himself a woman’s name |
| D．her husband’s pocket money was lost without any reason |
| A．The organization of the horse races of a club． |
| B．Jenny the man chose to bet on in the races． |
| C．Jenny who won the race successfully． |
| D．Jenny whom the man made friends with． |
| A．He was lucky to see the employee’s former grandmother． |
| B．The employee’s grandmother has come into heaven after death． |
| C．He has figured out that the employee told a lie to him． |
| D．The employee’s grandmother was an honest woman． |
| A．His father likes to make fun of his mother-in-law． |
| B．He likes to play tricks on others． |
| C．His mother is strict with him． |
| D．His father doesn’t like his mother-in-law to come． |
| A．he is thankful for his selfless and lovely wife |
| B．he realizes he is unlucky to have married his wife |
| C．it is fortunate to experience so many unforgettable things |
| D．his wife deserves all his love because of her devotion |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Johnny the Explorer
Johnny was three when he ran away from home for the first time. Somebody left the garden gate open. Johnny wandered out, crossed some fields and, two hours later, arrived in the next village. He was just able to give his name and address.
By the time he was seven, Johnny used to disappear from home two to three times a year. Sometimes he covered quite long distances on foot. Sometimes he got on a bus or even a train, and simply sat there until someone asked for his ticket. Generally the police brought him home. “Why do you do it?” they used to ask. “I just like seeing places,” Johnny told them.
Johnny continued to “see places” although everyone tried to stop him. His parents used to watch him closely, and so did his teachers; but sooner or later Johnny managed to slip away. As he grew older, his favorite trick was to hide on a long distance truck. Sometimes he travelled hundreds of miles before anyone discovered him.
It is hardly surprising that eventually Johnny managed to board a plane. He was twelve at the time. It was a cargo plane and, a few hours later, Johnny found himself in Cairo. How did he get on board? No one knows! According to Johnny himself, it was easy: he just went into the airport, walked along some passages and got on board the nearest plane.
In spite of all this, Johnny did well at school. He enjoyed mathematics and languages and, perhaps not surprisingly, he was especially good at geography. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” his teachers asked him. “An explorer!” he answered. “But it’s difficult to become an explorer in this modern age,” they tried to tell him. But it was no use: Johnny knew what he wanted!
Just before he left school, Johnny saw a notice in a daily paper. A long journey was about to go to Brazil to travel up the Amazon River. There were jobs for three young people “willing to work hard and with a sense of adventure”. Johnny applied, and two months later, he was on his way to Brazil.
【小题1】At what age did Johnny board a plane for the first time?
| A．Three | B．Seven | C．Twelve | D．Not mentioned |
| A．he preferred to stay alone |
| B．he enjoyed seeing new places |
| C．he couldn’t do well at school |
| D．he didn’t get along well with his parents |
| A．tried to stop him from slipping away |
| B．kept following him to get him back |
| C．booked tickets for him if necessary |
| D．were clear about how he travelled abroad |
| A．Johnny worked for a daily paper |
| B．Johnny lacked a sense of adventure |
| C．Johnny went exploring along the Amazon River |
| D．Johnny went to Brazil two months after he finished school |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Born in America in 1898, William was an extraordinary boy, gifted with an amazing IQ between 250 and 300. The genius went to a grammar school when he was only 6 years old and graduated just within 7 months. At the age of 11, he became the youngest student of the Harvard University. He graduated with high scores at the age of 16 and entered Harvard Law School at 18.
Gifted with an amazing IQ between 220 and 230, Terence Tao makes it to this list of the people with the highest IQ in the world. Born in Adelaide, Australia in 1975, this genius first displayed his incredible intelligence at a mere age of 2, when he managed to solve basic arithmetic questions on his own. At the age of 16, he graduated with both Master's and Bachelor's degrees at the Flinders University. He has been considered as ''Mr. Fix it " by Charles Fefferman, who is a professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, and many other mathematicians want to interest him in their problems.
This 31-year-old Japanese-American astrophysicist lands him third in this list. At the age of 12, Christopher Hirata already worked on college-level courses, around the time most of us were just in the 7th grade. At the age of 13, this gifted kid became the youngest American to have ever won the gold medal in the International physics Olympiad.
At the age of 16, he was already working with NASA on its project to conquer planet Mars. After he was awarded the Ph.D. at Princeton University, he went back to California Institute of Technology.
The next person with very high IQ is Albert Einstein. With an IQ between 160 and 190, Albert Einstein is the genius behind the theory of relativity, which has had great impact on the world of science. He possessed such an amazing ability that after his death, researchers were eager to preserve and make research on his brain in search for clues to his exceptional brilliance, which to this day, has remained a mystery.
【小题1】About William, which of the following is true?
| A．His IQ reached between 220 and 230. |
| B．At the age of 16, he graduated from a grammar school. |
| C．At the age of 6, he graduated with both Master's and Bachelor's degrees. |
| D．At the age of 11, he became the youngest student at the Harvard University. |
| A．3 | B．4 | C．5 | D．6 |
| A．William | B．Terence Tao | C．Christopher Hirata | D．Albert Einstein |
| A．when William graduated from the Harvard University, he got the highest scores |
| B．at the age of 2, Terence solved basic arithmetic questions on his own |
| C．Christopher Hirata is a Japanese |
| D．researchers have found out why Albert Einstein was so brilliant |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
A house of cards? Sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? Not if the architect is 31-year-old Bryan Berg. He’s made a career out of building fantastic card houses, stadiums, capitols, castles — and the world’s tallest card tower. How does he do it?
Bryan’s structures are amazing because they are made entirely of perfectly balanced, freestanding playing cards. He never uses glue, tape, or anything else to hold the cards together. Nor does he fold the cards. He’s discovered another way to make a strong house of cards, using a trick from nature.
To make plants strong, nature builds them with cells that have tough walls. Rows and rows of these cells form a grid(格子) that helps leaves and stems keep their shape. Bees use the same kind of repeating pattern to create strong honeycombs, where they live and store honey. Bryan designs similar grids, using cards to create a repeating pattern of cells.
He begins with a single cell made by balancing four cards against one another to form a box. Then he repeats the cell over and over, expanding outward to form the grid, which makes a good foundation for a strong card structure. The larger the grid, the more weight it can carry. Sometimes Bryan uses several cards, instead of just one, to construct the cell walls, making the grid even stronger. The trick, he tells kids when he speaks in classrooms, is to place your cards as tightly together as possible when laying out your grid, making sure the cards are not leaning at all.
After building this solid base, Bryan lays cards across the top to make the floor for the next “story” of the building. He may add towers, columns, steeples, or domes. Using the principle of repeating cells, Bryan builds structures of amazing strength.
In the Cards
Not surprisingly, Bryan has always been interested in building things. Growing up on a “big, old farm” in rural Iowa, he had plenty of room to play. “We were in the middle of nowhere,” Bryan remembers, “with lots of space to do whatever we wanted. I was always making something, using things like sticks or bales of hay.”
Bryan’s grandfather taught him how to stack cards. Bryan’s two interests — building and card stacking — soon combined. But stacking in his family’s farmhouse was challenging. “Our old house had wood floors that weren’t all level,” he reports. “And they weren’t very firm. When people walked around, it was like ‘earthquake action.’ It was a challenge to build something that wouldn’t fall down immediately.”
Bryan constructed tower after tower; he went through a lot of trial and error before he built anything taller than himself. When he placed a few decks of cards on top of his grid, he discovered how strong it was. Bryan’s towers began to grow taller.
How Tall Is Too Tall?
Bryan’s first Guinness World Record for the world’s tallest card tower came in the spring of 1992, when he was in high school. Learning that the world record was 12 feet 10 inches, Bryan built a slim tower that topped out at 14 feet 6 inches. Done as a project for his geometry class, it took him 40 hours and 208 decks of cards. Since then he’s gone on to win world records for even taller buildings. His latest winner measured 25 feet 3.5 inches and used about 2,400 decks of cards. The building, which tapered to a high, narrow point, had 131 stories.
Why don’t these towers fall down? The key is in a good solid base, a repeating pattern of stories, and a tapering top. Bryan likes to point out how card buildings resemble real ones. They are built cell by cell, story by story. The separate parts make one strong whole. The heavier the building, the stronger and more stable it is. But the weight can’t all be at the top.
After spending so much time building something so cool, Bryan admits it’s sometimes painful to see his structures destroyed. But he compares his work to the building of a sandcastle or an ice sculpture.
“They wouldn’t be as special if they were permanent,” he points out. “My buildings are like snowdrifts, or clouds in the sky. They can’t last forever.
【小题1】According to the article, which natural structure is a model for Bryan’s card structures?
| A．A sand dune. | B．A honeycomb. |
| C．A snowdrift. | D．A thundercloud. |
| A．The tallest card tower. | B．The widest card dome. |
| C．The heaviest card house. | D．The sturdiest card structure. |
| A．Plant cells and honeycombs. |
| B．World records and geometry. |
| C．Building things and stacking cards. |
| D．Playing cards and designing houses. |
| A．The floors of the house were uneven. |
| B．The ceilings in the house were too low. |
| C．The floors of the house were slippery. |
| D．The windows in the house were windy. |
| A．older | B．shinier | C．stronger | D．thinner |
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