Many years ago in a small German town, a Jewish businessman had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the businessman’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain.
The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife and he would forgo her father’s debt. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.
They were standing on a pebble-strewn path. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. The sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. No doubt she was caught in a dilemma.
What would you have done if you were the girl? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:
1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral (横向的)and logical thinking.
Read on…
The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me!” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
72. The underlined word “forgo” in paragraph 2 may mean ____________.
A. pay off B. run out C. take over D. give up
73. Which of the following indicates lateral thinking?
A. The girl refused to take a pebble and fled at once.
B. The girl exposed the cheat and found another way.
C. The girl picked one pebbles and made it disappear.
D. The girl picked a black pebble and accepted the result.
74. It can be inferred from the passage that ___________.
A. The girl dropped the pebble onto the path on purpose
B. The girl dropped the pebble onto the path by accident
C. The girl didn’t know there were two black pebbles in the bag
D. The girl replaced a black pebble in the bag
75. What lesson can we learn from the story?
A. Keeping calm when facing a difficult situation.
B. Thinking about a complicated problem in another way.
C. Thinking twice before making a final choice.
D. Coming up with a clever answer is easy.
科目:高中英语 来源:2010-2011学年陕西省华清中学高二第二次月考英语试卷(带解析) 题型:阅读理解
Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five, he gave £ 12,000 to the village school to buy land and equipment (设备) for a children’s play ground.
As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman, During their talk, Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy-five, Johnson had a sense of humor (幽默). He liked whisky (威士忌酒) and drank some each day. “I have an injection (注射) in my neck each evening.” He told the newspaperman, thinking of evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and has a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain, asking him for the secret of his daily injection.
【小题1】Johnson became a rich man through .
A.doing business | B.making whisky |
C.cheating | D.buying and selling land |
A.had no children. | B.was a strange man. |
C.was very fond of children. | |
D.wanted people to know how rich he was. |
A.should have reported what Johnson had told him. |
B.shouldn’t have asked Johnson what injection he had. |
C.was eager to live a long life. |
D.should have found out what Johnson really meant. |
A.he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening. |
B.he needed an injection in the neck. |
C.a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well. |
D.there was something wrong with his neck. |
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Ad. 1
A.The two parties will be held on the same day. |
B.The two parties will be held at the same time. |
C.The entrance fees of the two parties will not be charged. |
D.Some old music will be played at the parties. |
A.Marco V. | B.La Nuit Francaise. |
C.Language in use. | D.The "worst" party. |
A.Marco V is a newlyestablished band |
B.La Nuit Francaise may be French words |
C.the "worst" party will attract a lot of college students |
D.you will enjoy free drink at April fool’s party |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2012-2013学年辽宁省五校协作体高二上学期联合竞赛英语试卷1(带解析) 题型:阅读理解
Apple Seeds
Circulation(发行量) : 1 Year, 9 Issues
Cover Price: $44.55
Price For You: $33.95
Product Description: Apple Seeds is an award winning magazine filled with stories for kids aged from 7 to 9. The cover is very soft, providing durability(耐用性) that allows each issue to be enjoyed for many years to come. Besides, there is a big surprise for you --- it’s being sold at a more favorable discount than usual.
Better Life
Circulation: 1 Year, 12 Issues
Cover Price: $44.55
Price For You: $15.00
Product Description: Designed for those who have a strong interest in personal lifestyle, Better Life is America’s complete home and family service magazine. It offers help with food, recipes, decorating, building, gardening, family health, money management, and education.
Humor Times
Circulation: 1 Year, 12 Issues
Cover Price: $36.00
Price For You: $11.95
Product Description: Humor Times Magazine is for those who love to laugh! Full of cartoons and humor columns, it shows up in your mailbox once a month and keeps you smiling all year round! In today’s world, you need a reason to laugh. So let’s find it in Humor Times.
News China
Circulation: 1 Year, 12 Issues
Cover Price: $47.88
Price For You: $19.99
Product Description: News China Magazine is the English edition of China Newsweek. The magazine covers the latest Chinese domestic news in politics, business, society, environment, culture, sports and travels, etc. It is the first comprehensive news magazine for readers interested in China.
【小题1】What do we know about Apple Seeds?
A.The soft cover enables it to be read and kept long. |
B.It can be purchased as an award for your children. |
C.It offers the biggest discount among all the magazines. |
D.The magazine is going to surprise you for many years. |
A.Apple Seeds | B.Better Life | C.Humor Times | D. News China |
A.People who have an interest in Personal lifestyle of the Chinese. |
B.People who have a strong sense of humor and love to laugh. |
C.People who want to enlarge the knowledge of their kids. |
D.People who are interested in China’s politics, business and culture. |
A.Apple Seeds | B.Better Life | C.Humor Times | D. News China |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2012-2013学年河北省石家庄市第二实验中学高一10月月考英语试卷(带解析) 题型:填空题
单词拼写, 首字母已给出 (每小题1分,共10分)
【小题1】We s________(遭受) huge losses in the earthquake.
【小题2】I’m c_________(担心) that they may have got lost.
【小题3】The boy refused to follow my a_______(建议) and did what he wanted to.
【小题4】The worker i_______(忽视) his own danger and jumped into the river to save the boy.
【小题5】The news quite u______(使心烦意乱) him.
【小题6】Are you sure he is a n (本地的) here not a visitor ?
【小题7】Though I haven’t met him for many years, I could r_________(认出) him immediately when I saw him in the crowd.
【小题8】His story is b (以…为基础) on his own experience.
【小题9】He didn’t stop in Hong Kong and flew s (径直) to London.
【小题10】The ship sailed and we set out on a long v (航海).
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科目:高中英语 来源:2015届四川省高二上学期期中考试英语试卷(解析版) 题型:阅读理解
The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the Earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the Earth.
On 17 July, a piece four kilometers wide enters the Earth’s atmosphere with a massive explosion. About half of the piece is destroyed, but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the sea bed. Huge waves are created and spread outwards from the hole. The wall of water, a kilometer high, rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people drowned.
Before the waves reach South America, the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina. Earthquakes and volcanoes are set off in the Andes Mountains. The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes. Millions of people in the southern half of the Earth are already dead, but the north won’t escape for long. Because of the explosions, the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. The sun won’t be seen again for many years. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later, no more than 10 million people remain alive.
Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space. The dinosaurs couldn’t live through the cold climate that followed and they died out. Will we meet the same end?
1.What is mainly described in the passage?
A. A historic discovery. B. An event of imagination.
C. A research on space. D. A scientific adventure.
2.When the first piece hits the South Atlantic, it causes .
A. an earthquake B. damages to cities
C. an Earth explosion D. huge waves
3.Why can’t the northern half of the earth escape for long?
A. Because the land is covered with water.
B. Because the light and heat from the sun can not reach the Earth.
C. Because people there can not live at the temperature of zero.
D. Because wars break out among countries.
4.By giving the example of dinosaurs, the author tries to prove .
A. animals could not live in the cold climate
B. what happened 65 million years ago was an invented story
C. the human beings will die out in 2094
D. the Earth could be hit by other objects in space
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