There was one shop in the town of Mufulira which was widely known for its racial discrimination. It was a drugstore .While Europeans were served at the counter ,a long line of Africans queued at the window and often not only were kept waiting but were treated rudely by the shop assistants .One day I was determined to make a public protest （抗议）against this kind of thing ,and many of the schoolboys in my class followed me to the store.

       I simply went into the shop and asked the manager politely for some medicine. As soon as he saw me standing in the place where only European customers were allowed to stand ,he shouted at me in a bastard （怪声怪气的）language which is only used by a boss when speaking to his servants .I stood at the counter and politely requested in proper English that I should be served .The manager became angry and said , “Even if you stand till Christmas ,I will never serve you .”

       I went to the District Commissioner’s office .Fortunately ,he was out ,for he was one of the old school; however ,I saw a young District Officer who was a friend of mine .He was very concerned to hear my story and told me that all I had to do was come to him personally and he would buy my medicine for me .I protested that that was not good enough .I asked him to accompany me back to the store and to make a protest to the manager .This he did ,and I well remember him saying to the manager , “Here is Mr. Kaunda who is a responsible member of the Urban Advisory Council, and you treat him like a common servant .” The manager of the drugstore apologized and said , “If only he had introduced himself and explained who he was ,then ,of course ,I should have given him proper service.”

       I had to explain once again that he had missed my point .Why should I have to introduce myself every time I went into a store…any more than I should have to buy my medicine by going to a European friend ? I want to prove that any man of any color ,whatever his position ,should have the right to go into any shop and buy what he wanted .After all, the money which I paid across the counter was exactly the same money as was paid by a European customer.

The writer was ,at the time of the story ,      .

       A．a European officer   B．an African servant

       C．a drugstore assistant D．a black school teacher

The manager of the drugstore shouted at the writer in dirty words because      .

       A．he could not speak English in a polite way

       B．he thought the writer couldn’t understand English

       C．that was the language he used when speaking to Africans

       D．that was the only language he could speak when he was angry

In paragraph 3, the underlined sentence “he was one of the old school” means      .

       A．he stuck to those old racial ideas

       B．he graduated from an old white school

       C．he was in charge of an old black school

Why didn’t the writer wait at the window of the drugstore like other Africans?

       A．He believed his white friends would help him out .

       B．He wanted to fight for equal rights of all black people.

       C．He thought he was educated and should be treated differently.

       D．He thought ,being an important person ,he should not be kept waiting.

Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting creatures,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative meaning.

So it seems contradictory to talk about habits in the same context as innovation (创新). But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel （平行的）paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try, the more creative we become.

But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.

“The first thing needed for innovation is attraction to wonder,” says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind. “But we are taught instead to ‘decide’, just as our president calls himself ‘the Decider’.” She adds, however, that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”

“All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,” she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the ability to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally（程序上的）, collaboratively (合作地) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that ability, preserving only those ways of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.

The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us use our innovative and collaborative ways of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system—that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will … and Ms. Markova’s business partner. “That’s a lie that we have preserved, and it fosters（培养）commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.” This is where developing new habits comes in.

1. Brain researchers have discovered that     .

A．the forming of new habits can be guided	B．the development of habits can be predicted
C．the regulation of old habits can be transformed
D．the track of new habits can be created unconsciously

2.The underlined word “ruts” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to      .

A．zones

B．connections

C．situations

D．tracks

3.Which of the following statements most probably agrees with Dawna Markova’s view?

A．Decision makes no sense in choices.	B．Curiosity makes creative minds active.
C．Creative ideas are born of a relaxing mind.	D．Formation of innovation comes from fantastic ideas.

4.The purpose of the author writing this article is to persuade us      .

A．to give up our traditional habits deliberately	B．to create and develop new habits consciously
C．to resist the application of standardized testing	D．to believe that old habits conflict with new habits

 

When I was learning calligraphy my teacher told me a story.

A calligrapher taught handwriting. One of his students who often practised handwriting with old sheets of newspapers complained that he made very little progress though he had learned it with the calligrapher for a long time. His teacher said to him, “Try to use the best paper. Maybe you’ll write better. ”

　The student did as he was told. It really worked. He made headway not long afterwards and felt curious. He asked his teacher about the reason. The calligrapher answered, “When you used old newspapers to practice handwriting，you would think you were writing a draft（草稿）.  It didn’t matter if you wrote badly as old newspapers were plenty in supply. In that case you wouldn’t pay much attention to it. Now you use the best paper you’ll treasure it. Each time you write you feel strongly about the rarity (稀少) of chances and you’ll devote to it with all your heart and soul; you’ll do the handwriting much more attentively than otherwise practising it. Of course you’ve made rapid progress.”

Indeed，we spend our ordinary days just as they are worthless “old newspapers”. We don’t care if we scrawl and waste them, thinking that they will come endlessly --- those “old newspapers” are inexhaustible. In such a mood we may each day pass by opportunities but fail to catch any of them.

Life is not a military exercise but an actual war in which real weapons are used. In everyday life there’s no chance for us to draw a draft. That’s because what we call “draft” actually is the answer sheet we write that cannot be changed. Every day of our life is something new. Let us take every day as a sheet of best paper.

1.The calligrapher in the story told the student to write on the best paper because he thought _______.

A．the student would practice more carefully on the best paper

B．it was comfortable to write on the bet paper

C．the student had enough money to buy the best paper.

D．the student could write more on the best paper.

2.The student didn’t make much progress at first because _________.

A．he regarded his writing on old newspaper just as a draft

B．he was too poor to buy better paper to write

C．he didn’t follow his teacher’s advice

D．he was not used to the calligrapher’s teaching manner

3.We learn from the passage that _________.

A．the student finally gave up

B．the student made rapid progress by persisting more carefully

C．the calligrapher was strict with his students

D．old newspaper is not useful

4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．What teachers say is always true.

B．Success calls for attentiveness.

C．Handwriting is easy to practice.

D．New things are always better than old ones.

5.The writer wants to tell us that _________.

A．there are some good ways to practice handwriting

B．life is like old newspaper

C．we should learn from the student in the story

D．life will not give us a chance to draw a draft

 

Brenda Bongos was a happy, artistic girl. She had one big ambition—to play the drums in a band. But one big problem lay in her way. To be good enough to play in a band, Brenda had to practice a lot, but she lived next-door to a lot of old people. Many of them are sick. She knew that the sound of beating drums would really get on their nerves. So, she had tried playing in the strangest places: a basement, a kitchen, and even in a shower. But there was always someone it would annoy.

One day, while watching a science documentary on TV, she heard that sound cannot travel in space, because there's no air. At that moment, Brenda Bongos decided to become a sort of musical astronaut.

With the help of a lot of time, books and work, Brenda built a space bubble. This was a big glass ball connected to a machine which sucked out all the air inside. All that would be left inside was a drum kit（成套设备） and a chair. Brenda got into the space suit she had made, entered the bubble, turned on the machine, and played those drums like a wild child.

It wasn't long before Brenda Bongos came very famous. Many people came to see her play in her space bubble. Shortly afterwards she came out of the bubble and started giving concerts. Her fame spread so much that the government suggested that she be part of a unique space journey. Finally, Brenda was a real musical astronaut, and had gone far beyond her first ambition of playing drums in a band.

Years later, when asked how she had achieved all this, she thought for a moment, and said: ''If those old people next – door hadn't mattered so much to me, I wouldn't have found a solution, and none of this would have ever happened.''

1.Why did Brenda try to play in the strangest places?

A．Because she didn't want others to hear her play.

B．Because she didn't mean to disturb others.

C．Because she didn't have her own room.

D．Because she didn’t like her neighbors.

2.Brenda started to give concerts _______.

A．after she practiced in her space bubble

B．when she became part of the unique space journey

C．after she became a real musical astronaut

D．when people came to see her in the space bubble

3.Brenda became famous because _______.

A．she was good at music and science

B．she became a real musical astronaut

C．she invented a special way of practice

D．she played well and had a talent

4.Which of the following can be used to describe Brenda?

A．Kind, hardworking and clever.

B．Brave, kind and hardworking.

C．Lovely, brave and kind.

D．Nervous, kind and clever.

5.It can be inferred from the text that: " _______".

A．He laughs best who laughs last

B．It's never too old to learn

C．Two heads are better than one

D．One good turn deserves another

 

As a youngster, there was nothing I liked better than Sunday afternoons at my grandfather’s farm in western Pennsylvania. Surrounded by miles of winding stone walls, the house and field provided endless hours of fun for a city kid like me. I was used to tidy living rooms that seemed to whisper, "Not to be touched!"

I can still remember one afternoon when I was eight years old. Since my first visit to the farm, I had wanted more than anything to be allowed to climb the stone walls surrounding the houses. My parents would never approve. The walls were old; some stones were missing, others loose and falling. Still, my idea to climb across those walls grew so strong that finally, one spring afternoon, I had all my courage to enter the living room, where the adults had gathered after Sunday dinner.

"I, uh-I want to climb the stone walls," I said. Everyone looked up. "Can I climb the stone walls? "Immediately voices of disagreement went up from the women in the room. "Heavens, no!" You'll hurt yourself!" I wasn't too disappointed; the response was just as I'd expected. But before I could leave the room, I was stopped by my grandfather's loud voice. "Now hold on just a minute," I heard him say. "Let the boy climb the stone walls. He has to learn to do things for himself."

"Go," he said to me, "and come and see me when you get back." For the next two and a half hours I climbed those old walls -and had the time of my life. Later I met with my grandfather to tell him about my adventures. I'll never forget what he said. "Fred," he said, smiling, "You made this day a special day just by being yourself. Always remember, there's only one person in this whole world like you, and I like you exactly as you are."

Many years have passed since then, and today I host the television program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, seen by millions of children throughout America. There have been changes over the years, but one thing remains the same: my message to children at the end of almost every visit. "There's only one person in this whole world like you," the kids can count on hearing me say, "and people can like you exactly as you are.”

1.When the writer was small, he lived        .

A．in the city	B．on the farm
C．with his grandparents	D．away from his parents

2.The writer enjoyed his visits to the farm because        .

A．there were old stone walls.	B．it was an exciting place for him.
C．he liked his grandfather.	D．the living room there was clean

3.The underlined word “approve” in paragraph 2 means        .

A．prove

B．suppose

C．allow

D．mind

4.We can learn from the passage that the writer was        .

A．adventurous

B．funny

C．smart

D．talkative