In the modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity (繁荣). Others say that competition is bad, that it sets one person against another, that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit (追求) of success, the development of many other human qualities is really forgotten.
However, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often notice that they have a desire to fail. They seem to choose failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” They don’t believe that if they had really tried and lost, such a loss would prove their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison(比较) with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve (缓解) can we discover a new meaning in competition.
【小题1】What does this passage mainly talk about?

A．Competition helps set up self-respect.

B．Failures are necessary experiences in competition.

C．Competition is harmful to personal quality development.

D．Opinions about competition are different among people.

【小题2】Why do some people value competition according to the passage?

A．It builds up a sense of duty.	B．It pushes society forward.
C．It improves personal abilities.	D．It encourages individual effects.

【小题3】The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 refers to_______.

A．those who try their best to win

B．those who value competition most highly

C．those who are against competition most strongly

D．those who rely on others most for success

【小题4】What is the similar belief of the true competitors and those with a “desire to fail”?

A．One’s success is based on how hard he has tried.

B．One’s success in competition needs great efforts.

C．One’s achievement is determined by his particular skills.

D．One’s worth lies in his performance compared with others’.

【小题5】Which point of view may the author agree to?

A．Every effort should be paid back.

B．Competition should be encouraged.

C．Winning should be a life-and-death matter.

D．Fear of failure should be removed in competition.

In the modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity (繁荣). Others say that competition is bad, that it sets one person against another, that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.

I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit (追求) of success, the development of many other human qualities is really forgotten.

However, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often notice that they have a desire to fail. They seem to choose failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” They don’t believe that if they had really tried and lost, such a loss would prove their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison(比较) with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve (缓解) can we discover a new meaning in competition.

1.What does this passage mainly talk about?

A．Competition helps set up self-respect.

B．Failures are necessary experiences in competition.

C．Competition is harmful to personal quality development.

D．Opinions about competition are different among people.

2.Why do some people value competition according to the passage?

A．It builds up a sense of duty.	B．It pushes society forward.
C．It improves personal abilities.	D．It encourages individual effects.

3.The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 refers to_______.

A．those who try their best to win

B．those who value competition most highly

C．those who are against competition most strongly

D．those who rely on others most for success

4.What is the similar belief of the true competitors and those with a “desire to fail”?

A．One’s success is based on how hard he has tried.

B．One’s success in competition needs great efforts.

C．One’s achievement is determined by his particular skills.

D．One’s worth lies in his performance compared with others’.

5.Which point of view may the author agree to?

A．Every effort should be paid back.

B．Competition should be encouraged.

C．Winning should be a life-and-death matter.

D．Fear of failure should be removed in competition.

 

However urban life strikes you, cities worldwide have been growing ever more rapidly. Some of this growth has happened in the developed world, but the most dramatic increase has been in the Third World. Almost all the world’s population growth over the next 30 years will take place in the cities of developing countries.
By the year 2030, for the first time in history, 60 percent of the world’s people will be living in cities.
This is actually good news in some ways. “Cities are the fundamental building blocks of prosperity(繁荣),” says Marc Weiss, chairman of the Prague Institute for Global Urban Development, “both for the nation and for families.” Industrial and commercial activities in urban areas account for between 50 and 80 percent of the GDP(国内生产总值) in most countries of the world. “There’s the crazy idea that the way to deal with a city’s problems is to keep people out of them.” Weiss continued. “But the problems of the rural life are even more serious than those of the city.” For better or worse, urban-watchers are clear on one point: The quality of life for most people in the future will be determined by the quality of cities. Those cities will be bigger than ever. And yet, population numbers by themselves don’t determine a city’s prospects; after all, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Hamburg, Germany, have the same population. Nor is explosive growth necessarily the determining factor. “City problems,” one authority points out, “mostly have to do with weak, ineffective, and usually unrepresentative city governments.”
【小题1】According to the passage, in the year of 2030 _______.

A．there will be many cities having a population of more than 10 million.

B．rural area will be extinct (灭绝).

C．most people will live in cities.

D．the third world will keep up with the developed world.

【小题2】In the author’s opinion, _________.

A．better city, better life

B．both urban and rural areas will have a large population

C．the larger the population is, the faster a city develops

D．both urban and rural areas have larger GDP

【小题3】The last paragraph implies that ____________.

A．Public services are ineffective.

B．Cities are increasing too fast.

C．Population is not linked with development.

D．Government should be responsible for the problems in the cities.

Yinxu (Ruins of Yin) is the ruins of the last capital of China’s Shang Dynasty (1600 BC - 1046 BC). The capital served 255 years for 12 kings. It shows the golden age of early Chinese culture, crafts and science, a time of great prosperity (繁荣) during the Chinese Bronze Age (青铜时代).

Discovered in 1899, Yinxu is one of the oldest and largest archeological sites (考古遗址) in China and is one of the historical capitals of China and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It lies in central Henan Province, near the modern city of Anyang, and is open to the public as the Garden Museum of Yinxu. It is famous as the source of oracle bone script (甲骨文), the earliest recorded form of Chinese writing. The oracle bone script has recorded almost everything from dream-explaining to events such as harvests, birth of a child, the weather and the success of military campaigns.

Over 3,000 tombs, 2,200 pits, and 200 houses have been dug out at Yinxu. The large number of burial accessories found there shows the high level of the Shang crafts industry.

The site includes a main palace and an ancient tomb. Besides, there are a number of large buildings, at least 53 of which have been dug out.

Yinxu has seen many years of research, first researched by the Academia Sinica in the late 1920s to the early 1930s and most recently by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

1.During which period may Yin have been the capital of Shang Dynasty?

A. 1600 BC - 1500 BC              B. 1500 BC - 1200 BC

C. 1200 BC - 1050 BC              D. 1050 BC - 850 BC

2.From the passage, we can know that Yinxu _______.

A. was discovered in the 1920s

B. can be visited by the public

C. now proved the failure of the Shang Dynasty

D. was the last capital of China’s Shang Dynasty

3.We can infer from the passage that ________.

A. there are 200 houses in Yinxu

B. many things are still to be dug out

C. Anyang is a city of the Shang Dynasty

D. no research has been carried out on Yinxu

 

Why 2012 was the best year ever

It may not feel like it, but 2012 has been the greatest year in the history of the world. Never has there been less hunger, less disease or more prosperity (繁荣). The West remains in the economic depression, but most developing countries are charging ahead, and people are being lifted out of poverty at the fastest rate ever recorded. The number of deaths caused by war and natural disasters is also mercifully low. We are living in a golden age.

Take global poverty as an example. In 1990, the UN announced Millennium Development Goals, the first of which was to halve the number of people in extreme poverty by 2015. It turned out this year that the target was met in 2008.

The doom-mongers (末世论者) will tell you that we cannot maintain worldwide economic growth without ruining our environment. But while the rich world’s economies grew by 6 per cent over the last seven years, fossil fuel (矿物燃料) consumption in those countries fell by 4 per cent. This remarkable achievement has nothing to do with green taxes or wind-farms. It is down to consumer demand for more efficient cars.

Advances in medicine and technology mean that people across the world are living longer. The average life span in Africa reached 55 this year. Ten years ago, it was 50. The number of people dying from Aids has been in decline for the last eight years. Deaths from malaria have fallen by a fifth in half a decade.

War has historically been human’s biggest killer. But in most of the world today, a generation is growing up that knows little of it. The Peace Research Institute in Oslo says there have been fewer war deaths in the last decade than any time in the last century.

Fifty years ago, the world was breathing a sigh of relief after the Cuban missile crisis. Young couples would discuss whether it was responsible to have children when the future seemed so dark. But now, it’s worth remembering that, in spite of all our problems, the forces of peace, progress and prosperity are prevailing (占优势).

1.What has caused the decrease in the fossil fuel consumption?

A. People have to pay heavier taxes on fossil fuel.

B. There are more and more renewable resources now.

C. There is a sharp decline in the number of cars.

D. People are purchasing more energy-saving cars.

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. People don’t suffer from malaria any more.

B. There were many more war deaths in the last century.

C. The young generation shows little interest in war.

D. The number of Aids-affected people is declining.

3. Which one does NOT help prove that 2012 was the best year ever?

A. Fewer natural disasters occurred.                         B. Global poverty relieved.

C. Cuban missile crisis ended.                                      D. Technology and medicine advanced.

4. The author tries to inform people that _______.

A. 2012 witnessed more advances in developed countries

B. 2012 brought us less starvation and more prosperity

C. 2012 saw economic growth as well as environmental destruction

D. 2012 provided us with a peaceful world free from conflicts