Our quarrel with efficiency is not that it gets things done, but that it is a thief of time when it leaves us no leisure to enjoy ourselves, and that it strains our nerves when we try to get things done perfectly. In building bridges, American engineers calculate so finely and exactly as to make the two ends come together within one-tenth of an inch. But when two Chinese begin to dig a tunnel from both sides of a mountain both come out on the other side. --The Chinese’s firm belief is that it doesn’t matter so long as a tunnel is dug through, and if we have two instead of one, why, we have a double track to boot.

　　The pace of modern industrial life forbids this kind of glorious and magnificent idling. But, worse than that, it imposes upon us a different conception of time as measured by the clock and eventually turns the human being into a clock himself. (This sort of thing is bound to come to China, as is evident, for instance, in the case of a factory of twenty thousand workers. The luxurious prospect of twenty thousand workers coming in at their own sweet pleasure at all hours is, of course, somewhat terrifying.)Nevertheless, such efficiency is what makes life so hard and full of excitement. A man who has to be punctually at a certain place at five o’clock has the whole afternoon from one to five ruined for him already. Every American adult is arranging his time on the pattern of the schoolboy - three o’clock for this, five o’clock for that, six-thirty for change of dress, six-fifty for entering the taxi, and seven o’clock for arriving at the destination. It just makes life not worth living.

The writer objects to efficiency mainly on the grounds that it ____.

　　 A. gives us rights to have too much leisure time

　　 B. urges us to get things done punctually

　　 C. robs us of leisure time

　　 D. imposes on us a perfect concept of time

In the eyes of the author, the introduction of industrial life gives rise to ____.

　　 A. the excitement of life

　　 B. magnificent idling of time

　　 C. more emphasis on efficiency

　　 D. terrifying schoolboy

The passage tells us ____.

　　 A. Chinese workers come to work when it is convenient

　　 B. all Americans are forced to be efficient against their will

　　 C. Chinese engineers are on better terms with the management

　　 D. Americans ought not to work so hard for efficiency

The author believes that relaxing the rule of punctuality in factories would lead to ____.

　　 A. great trouble                       B. increased production

　　 C. a hard and exciting life                D. successful completion of a tunnel

　Many people believe the glare（炫目的光）from snow causes snowblindness. Yet, with dark glasses or not, they find themselves suffering from headaches and watering eyes, and even snowblindness ,when exposed to several hours of“ snow light”.

　　The United States army has now determined that glare from snow does not cause snowblindness in troops in a snow -covered country. Rather ,a man’s eyes frequently find nothing to focus on （聚集） in a broad space of snow- covered without- grass land. So his gaze continually moves and jumps back and forth over the entire landscape in search of something to look at. Finding something, hour after hour, the eyes never stop searching and the eyeballs become tired and the eye muscles ache. Nature makes up for this discomfort by producing more and more fluid （流 体） which covers the eyeball. The fluid covers the eyeball in increasing quantity until it makes eyes difficult to see dearly, and the result is total, even though for a short time, snowblindness.

　　Experiments led the Army to a simple method of overcoming this problem. Scouts（侦察兵）ahead of the troops are trained to shake snow from evergreen bushes, creating a dotted line as they cross completely snow - covered landscape. Even the scouts themselves throw lightweight, dark - colored objects ahead on which they can focus too. The men following can then see something. Their gaze is arrested. Their eyes focus on a bush and having found something to see, stop searching the snow -blanketed landscape. By focusing their attention on one object at a time. the men can cross the snow without becoming hopelessly snowblind or lost. In this way the problem of crossing a continuous white land is overcome.

To prevent snowblindness caused by the strong light from snow, wearing glasses or not ________.

　　A. depends on whether the snow is white enough

　　B. makes no difference

　　C. makes much difference

　　D. depends on whether the snow is thick

When the eyes are tired, tears flow out ________.

　　A. to clear the vision

　　B. to make the eyes stop searching

　　C. to make the vision unclear

　　D. to produce more and more liquid

Snowblindness can be avoided ________.

　　A. by moving one’s gaze back and forth

　　B. by walking ahead and keeping looking around

　　C. by making up for the discomfort of one’s eyes

　　D. by providing the eyes with something to focus on

A few days ago I asked my sons’ governess（女家庭教师）Julia to come into my study. “Be seated, Julia, ”I said, “Let’s settle our accounts. I guess you most likely need some money, but maybe you’re too polite to mention it. Now then, we agreed on thirty dollars a month...”

　　“Forty.”

　　“No, thirty. I made a note of it. I always pay our governess thirty. Well, um, you’ve been here two months, so...”

　　“Two months and five days.”

　　“Exactly two months. I made a special note of it. That means you have sixty dollars coming to you. Take off nine Sundays... you know you didn’t work with Tom on Sundays, you only took walks. And three holidays... ”Julia was biting her finger nail nervously, her face red, but - not a word.

　　“Three holidays, therefore take off twelve dollars. Four days Tom was sick and there were no lessons, as you were occupied only with Dick. Three days you had a toothache and my wife gave you permission not to work after lunch. Twelve and seven - nineteen. Take nineteen off ... that leaves. hmm.... forty one dollars. Correct？”

　　Julia’s left eye reddened with tears welling up. Her chin trembled; she coughed nervously and blew her nose, but - still not a word.

　　“Around New Year’s Day you broke a teacup and a saucer; take off two dollars. The cup cost more, it was a treasure of the family, but- forget it. When didn’t I take a loss! Then, due to your neglect （疏忽）, Tom climbed a tree and tore his jacket; take away ten. Also due to your carelessness the maid stole Dick’s shoes. You ought to watch everything! You get paid for it. So, that means five more dollars off. The tenth of January I gave ten dollars.”

　　“You didn’t. ”sobbed Julia.

　　“But I made a note of it.”

　　“Well... if you say so.”

　　“Take twenty seven from forty one -that leaves fourteen.”

　　Both her eyes were filled with tears. Beads of sweat stood on the thin pretty little nose. Poor girl!

　　“Only once was I given any money,” she whispered, her voice trembling, “and that was by your wife. Three dollars, nothing more.”

　　“Really? You see now, and I didn’t know that! Take three from fourteen.. leaves eleven. Here’s your money, my dear. Three, three, three, one and one. Here it is !”

　　I handed her eleven dollars. She took them and pocketed them.

　　“Merci （法语: 谢谢）,”she whispered.

　　I jumped to my feet and started pacing the room. I was overcome with anger. “For what, this - ‘merci’?” I asked.

　　“For the money. ”

　　“But you know I’ve cheated you - robbed you ! I have actually stolen from you ! Why this‘merci’？”

　　“In my other places they didn’t give me anything at all.”

　　“They didn’t give you anything? No wonder! I played a little joke on you, a cruel lesson, just to teach you... I m going to give you all the eighty dollars! Here they are in the envelope all ready for you... Is it really possible to be so spineless （懦弱）?Why didn’t you protest? Why were you silent? Is it possible in this world to be without teeth and claws（爪）—to be such a fool?”

　　Embarrassed, she smiled. And I could read her expression,“It is possible.”

　　I asked her pardon for the cruel lesson and, to her great surprise, gave her the eighty dollars. She murmured her little“merci”several times and went out. I looked after her and thought,“How easy it is to crush the weak in this world !”

While talking to Julia, the wrier expected from her ________.

　　A. a protest　　　　　　　　　　　B. gratitude

　　C. obedience　　　　　　　　　　 D. an explanation

What shocked the writer was Julia’s ________.

　　A. nervousness in front of her boss

　　B. acceptance of injustice

　　C. shyness when talking about money

　　D. reluctance to express herself

The writer said, “Is it possible in this world to be without teeth and claws?” He was actually telling the governess ________.

　　A. to be more aggressive

　　B. to be more careful in her work

　　C. to protect her right

　　D. to live independently

At the end of the story, the writer said,“ How easy it is to crush the weak in this world!”to show ________.

　　A. his understanding of Julia’s anxiety

　　B. his worry about Julia’s future

　　C. his concern on the living condition of working - class people

　　D. his sympathy for the mental state of those exploited

From the story, we can tell that Julia’s employer was ________.

　　A. greedy but honest

　　B. ill - tempered but warm - hearted

　　C. strict but forgiving

　　D. none of the above

—Is it good a look up every new word when I come across it in reading??

—No,You__________because you are likely to guess the meaning from the context.?

A.can’t　　　　    B.mustn’t　　　　C.don’t have to　　D.ought not to

　Most people feel lonely sometimes, but it usually only lasts between a few minutes and a few hours. This kind of loneliness is not serious. In fact, it is quite normal. For some people, though, loneliness can last for yeas. Now researchers say there are three different types of loneliness.
　　The first kind of loneliness is temporary（暂时的）. This is the most common type. It usually disappears quickly and does not require any special attention. The second kind, situational loneliness, is a natural result of a particular situation-for example, family problem, the death of a loved one, or moving to a new place. Although this kind of loneliness can cause physical problems, such as headaches and sleeplessness, it usually does not last for more than a year.
　　The third kind of loneliness is the most severe. Unlike the second type, chronic（长期的）usually lasts more than two years and has no specific cause. People who experience habitual loneliness have problems socializing and becoming close to others. Unfortunately, many chronically lonely people think there is little or nothing they can do to improve their condition.
Psychologists agree that one important factor in loneliness is a person's social contacts, e.g. friends, family members, co-workers, etc. we depend on various people for different reasons. For instance, our families give us emotional support, our parents and teachers give us guidance, and our friends share similar interests and activities. However, psychologists have found that, though lonely people may have many social contacts, they sometimes feel they should have more. They question their popularity.
　　Psychologists are trying to find ways to help habitually lonely people for two reasons: they are unhappy and unable to socialize and there is a connection between chronic loneliness and serious illness such as heart disease. While temporary and situational loneliness can be normal, healthy part of life, chronic loneliness can be a sad, and sometimes dangerous condition.
【小题1】How would you treat temporary loneliness according to the passage?

A．Talk to friends	B．Just ignore it
C．Go to see a doctor	D．Ask your teachers for guidance

【小题2】"It" in the last sentence of the second paragraph refers to _____.
　　A. temporary loneliness                     　　                 B. situational loneliness
　　C. a new place　　                           D sleeplessness
【小题3】The topic of the 4th paragraph is that____.

A．one problem of loneliness is a person's social contacts

B．we depend on various person for different reasons

C．lonely people don't have many social problems

D．lonely people don't have many friends

【小题4】Why do psychologists want to help chronically lonely people?

A．Chronic loneliness can cause family problems	B．Chronic loneliness can cause serious illness
C．Chronic loneliness can not be overcome	D．A, B and C are all correct

【小题5】What is the best title for the passage?

A．Three Kinds of Loneliness	B．Loneliness and Diseases
C．Loneliness and Social Contacts	D．Chronic Loneliness