In 1980，Candy Lightner’s 13-year-old daughter Cad was killed by a drunk driver as she walked down a suburban street in California. “I promised myself on the day of my daughter’s death that I would fight to make this needless accident count for something positive in the years ahead,” Candy Lightener later wrote.

   The drunk driver received a two-year prison sentence. However, he avoided prison by serving time in a work camp and a halfway house. Ms. Lightner was very angry about that and so organized Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), which later changed to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The aim of her organization was to raise public awareness of the serious nature of drunk driving and to promote tough legislation against the crime.

   Before Ms. Lightner’s MADD, intoxication (醉酒), including drunk driving, was not taken seriously. Intoxication was often used as an excuse for otherwise unacceptable behavior: “I didn’t know what I was doing—I was drunk.”

   Candy Lightner appeared on major television shows, spoke before the US Congress, addressed professional and business, groups, and worked tirelessly for years to change public attitudes, change judicial(审判的) behaviour, and promote tough new legislation. Ms. Lightner left MADD because the organization that she herself created is changing its focus. “I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving.”

    The President of the United States awarded her the President’s Volunteer Action Award and she was the subject of the movie “Mothers Against Drunk Drivers: the Candy Lightner Story”.

1.One of the purposes of MADD was to______ .

A. make the public aware of the danger of drunk driving

B. fight against the drunk hit-and-run drivers on the road

C. make new laws against crimes caused by drinking

D. warn people not to drink alcohol while driving

2.which way didn’t Ms. Lightner use to achieve her MADD’s goals?

A. Talking on major TV shows.  

B. Giving a talk to businessmen.

C. Applying for a job with the government.  

D. Giving suggestions to the US Congress.

3.We can learn from the passage that______.

A. the drunk driver had not been caught

B. drunk driving didn’t receive enough attention before MADD

C. Candy Lightner played a leading role in a film

D. MADD didn’t get much support from society

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Ways to prevent drunk driving

B. Purposes of founding MADD

C. New law against drunk driving

D. Candy Lightner and her MADD

 

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

       Born in America , I spoke English ,not Chinese , the  language of my ancestors ．When I was three, my parents flashed cards with Chinese    36  at my face , but I pushed them   37   ．My mom believed I would learn   38    I was ready ．But the    39   never came．

       On a Chinese New Year’s Eve , my uncle spoke to me in Chinese , but all I could do was    40   at him , confused , scratching my head ．“ Still can’t speak Chinese?” He     41   me , “You can’t even buy a fish in Chinatown ．”

       “Hey ,this is America , not China．I’ll get some    42    with or without Chinese．” I replied and turned to my mom for     43    ．

       “Remember to ask for fresh fish, Xin Xian Yu ,” she said , handing over a $20 bill ．I     44   the words,  running downstairs into the streets of Chinatown．

       I found the fish    45   surrounded in a sea of customers．“I’d like to buy some fresh fish,” I should to the fishman．But he     46    my English words and turned to serve the next customer ．The laugh of the people behind increased     47    their impatience．With every   48  , the breath of the dragons on my back grew stronger—my blood boiling—    49    me to cry out ．“ Xian Sheng Yu , please．” “Very Xian Sheng ,” I repeated ．The crowd erupted into laughter ．My face turned    50   and I ran back home    51   , except for the $20 bill I held tightly in my pocket．

       Should I laugh or cry? They’re Chinese．I should feel right at     52    ．Instead , I was the joke , a disgrace （丢脸）to the language．

       Sometimes, I laugh at my fish      53   , but , in the end, the joke is on    54  ．Every laugh is a culture     55   ; every laugh is my heritage （传统） fading away．

1.A．custom            B．games          C ．characters     D．language

2.A．ahead            B．around          C．along           D．aside

3.A．when              B．before          C．unless           D．until

4.A．success            B．study           C．time            D．attempt

5.A．aim              B．joke            C．nod             D．stare

6.A．cared about        B．laughed at    C．argued with   D．asked after

7.A．right now         B．from now     C．at times        D．in time

8.A．decision           B．Permission    C．information    D．preparation

9.A．repeated          B．reviewed        C．spelled         D．kept

10.A．farm           B．stand          C．pond          D．market

11.A．guessed          B．forget           C．doubted       D．ignored

12.A．by             B．as              C．with         D．from

13.A．second          B．effort         C．desire           D．movement

14.A．forcing         B．allowing     C．persuading     D．leading

15.A．bright          B．blank         C．pale            D．red

16.A．open-mouthed    B．tongue-tied   C．empty-handed D．broken-hearted

17.A．service        B．home         C．risk            D．root

18.A．trade                 B．deed          C．challenge      D．incident

19.A．it              B．us              C．me            D．them

20.A．thrown               B．lost           C．divided      D．reflected

 

Gallows humor（黑色幽默）seem like a mistake, or at least in poor taste. But psychologists say that gallows humor can be an important way to relieve stress. “Humor makes you feel in control and it can give you that feeling that everything is okay even when it's not,” says James M. Jones, a psychology professor at the University of Delaware.

Psychologists say that just because you're laughing doesn't mean you’re wasting time. Occasional teasing among colleagues, particularly if it revolves around things associated with the job, can boost creativity, departmental cohesiveness（凝聚力）and performance.

“There are a lot of stressors out there,” says Ed Dunkelblau, a psychologist with the Institute for Emotionally Intelligent Learning in Chicago. “But gallows humor is a way of making difficult things a little less difficult.”

This is true as long as the humor is used for the right purpose. The main point of it should be inspiring people --- not laughing at them. “Anything that would lift morale（士气）in terms of the company would be good humor,” says Thierry Guedj, a professor of business and psychology at Boston University. “Before you say or do anything, think about, ‘How is this helping my employees’ morale?’”

You want to give your employees and co-workers a sense of belonging, so don’t make observations that are aggressive. Most obviously, Dr Guedj says, don’t make comments about people’s physical appearance, or faith. If you have any doubt, it's appropriate, don't go through with it.

Or you can take aim at the one person you know won't be offended（冒犯）:Yourself. “If there's going to be a joke or story, it should be you,” Mr. Dunkelblau says. For example, if you're a marketing manager reviewing a failed campaign that you led, begin with a line like, “The guy who gave permission to this deal might just be looking for work next week.”

“People with the ability to laugh at themselves can give other people permission to laugh at themselves too,” Mr. Jones says. “And if you can laugh at yourself, you feel better about yourself.”

1.According to the text, gallows humor has the following functions EXCEPT ________.

A．reducing pressure

B．improving performance

C．making people more creative

D．leading to a big mistake

2.What is Ed Dunkelblau’s attitude towards gallows humor?

A．Positive.          B．Negative.          C．Neutral.           D．Uncertain.

3.Which of the following would Dr. Guedj most probably agree with?

A．Gallows humor is the basic source of morale.

B．Gallows humor allows people to laugh at others.

C．Gallows humor may sometimes be used for the wrong purpose.

D．Anything that may lift morale can be called gallows humor.

4.When people use gallows humor, they should ________.

A．observe who is aggressive

B．show a sense of belonging

C．doubt about the result of humors

D．try to avoid irritating others

5.What can we infer from the text?

A．People tend to laugh at others rather than themselves.

B．Laughing at ourselves can help relieve the stress of others.

C．People can’t avoid offending others with gallows humor.

D．People who laugh at themselves are hard to be friends with.

 

Look, this is the first plane in the world to be created using the new technology of “3D printing”. The airplane was built using only a computer—but it can fly at a speed of 100mph and has a two-meter wingspan.

         It was produced using a special nylon laser printer that builds up something layer-by-layer. The parts were made separately and attached using a “snap fit” technique so the aircraft could be put together without tools in minutes.

         No fasteners at all were used in the manufacture of the plane. Unmanned and electrically powered, the plane can travel in near silence and is also equipped with a small autopilot system. The special production process used is known as “laser sintering (激光烧结)”and allows the designers to create shapes and structures that would normally include costly manufacturing techniques. This technology allows a highly-tailored aircraft to be developed from your own design to first flight in days, while using traditional materials and techniques would take months. And because no tooling is required for manufacture, major changes to the shape and scale of the aircraft can be made with no extra cost.

         Professor Jim Scanlon, who led the team, said, “The process allows the design team to revisit historical techniques and ideas that would have been too expensive using traditional manufacturing.” He added, “This form of structure is very firm and lightweight, but very complex. If it was manufactured traditionally it would require a large number of individually tailored parts that would have to be connected or fastened at great expense.”

         The new printed plane is known as the Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft—or SULSA for short—and is part of a wider project using cutting-edge manufacturing techniques. The University of Southampton has been at the leading position of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle development since the early 1990s.

1.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A. Revolutionary Breakthrough of 3D Printer

Scientists Create Aircraft with High Speed

C. New Designed Airplane with New Techniques.

D. The World’s first 3-D printed Airplane, SULSA

2.How could the plane work while flying?

A. It should be controlled by an autopilot system.

B. It should be controlled by “laser sintering”.

C. A pilot controls it using a remote control.

D. A pilot with high techniques controlled it.

3.This kind of plane has the following advantages EXCEPT ______.

A. it produces little noise while flying

B. it is manufactured in quite a short time

C. it only requires simple and cheap tools

D. it needn’t extra cost if changes are made

4.Professor Jim Scanlon believes they can _____ with their techniques.

A.produce firmer and lighter real planes easily

B.connect and fasten tailor parts for real planes

C.copy earlier planes to study their techniques

D.find differences by studying the traditional ones

 

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee' s new epic "Life of Pi" reveals the relationship between a teenage Indian boy and a Bengal tiger. But in reality, the predators(食肉动物)are under increasing threat from humans. Animal rights group PETA is hoping to use the popularity of the film to focus people's attention on the real life of Bengal tigers.

With the rising demand for tiger parts from East Asia, illegal hunting remains a tremendous danger for the remaining cat population. Back in 1947, there were 40,000 tigers in India, but the number is experiencing a sharp decline t0 1,706 despite campaigns to protect the animal.

Rising man-animal conflict is also one of the leading causes of decline in tiger numbers. In one of numerous reported attacks on the endangered big cats, villagers near The Bangladesh-India border, armed with sticks and boat oars, set upon the animal suspected to have attacked a local fisherman and beat it to death earlier this month. So far this year, 58 tiger deaths have been reported in the country.

"The first instinct when a tiger is spotted is to just kill it,"grieved Gurmeet Sapal, a wildlife filmmaker. "The feeling of fear and revenge is so strong that it shuts out any other emotion. What we don' t realize is that the tiger never attacks humans until it is forced to. "'

India has been struggling to stop the tiger's decline in the face of the loss of habitat as well that encourages the animals to leave the forest for food. " The tiger's rapidly exhausted prey base causes the predator to go al! out to get its food. Consequently, livestock and human beings become easy prey, which leads inevitably to conflict," says a wildlife conservationist.

Filmmaker Sapal says it is only normal for people to think of the tiger as a dangerous animal, but its image as a human killer bears some injustice. "Tigers never kill for sport nor store meat. They kill their prey only in case of hunger. " 

1.How can PETA take advantage over the hot movie “ Life of Pi ”?

A. PETA can count on the movie to promote people' s awareness of tiger' s life.

B. PETA can make enough money by encourage people to watch the movie.

C. The movie demonstrates that humans and tigers can live in harmony.

D. The movie offers a wonderful opportunity for movie to act in.

2.Why did the villagers beat the tiger to death?

A. Because it was a human killer and attempted to attack people.

B. Because it was suspected to be a threat to local people' s lives.

C. Because local people just followed their instinct to kill it.

D. Because people wanted to carry out their revenge for it.

3.According to the article, when will tigers attack and kill people?

A. When they are annoyed by people.

B. When they have conflict with people.

C. When they are driven to act in the movie.

D. When they are hungry or attacked.

4.What contributes to the facts that livestock and human beings become easy target of tigers?

A. It is easier for tigers to hunt human beings than other animal for food.

B. Tigers are losing their habitat and forced to go out of the woods.

C. People hold a strong belief that tigers are a born threat to their lives.

D. Tigers can't be treated equally as other animal in the forest