As a boy，Tim was much influenced by books about the sea, but in fact by the age of fifteen he had decided to become a doctor rather than a sailor. His father was a dentist and as a result Tim had the opportunity of meeting many doctors either at home or elsewhere. When he was fourteen he was already hanging around the clinic of a local doctor where he was supposed to be helping to wrap up medicine bottles，but was actually trying to listen to the conversations taking place between the doctor and his patients in the next room.

       During the war Tim served in the Navy as a surgeon（外科医生）.“That was the happiest time of my life. I was dealing with very real suffering and on the whole making a success of it .”In California he taught the country people simple facts about medicine. He saw himself as a life-saver. He had proved his skills to himself and his ability to take decisions. Thus，while he was able to tell them what to do, he could feel he was serving them. After the war, he got married and chose to be a doctor in the countryside，working under an old doctor who was popular in the area，but who hated the sight of blood and believed that the secret of medicine was faith. This gave the younger man many opportunities to go on working as a life –saver.

Tim decided to become a doctor at fifteen mainly because      

A. hisfather wanted him to be so         

B．his father was a surgeon himself

C. e had read many books about medicine 

D. e had chances to meet many doctors through his father

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

       A. Tim got married to the old doctor’s daughter. 

B.Tim continued working as a surgeon after the war.

       C．Before the war，Tim worked as a doctor at a local clinic．

       D．While working in California，Tim taught life-saving to the patients.

From the passage we can infer that Tim        .

       A．was sent to Europe during the war              B．worked as a surgeon during the war

       C．was satisfied with his career as a surgeon.         D．decided to give up medicine for faith

The passage is mainly about        .

A．Tim’s life story       B．Tim’s dream     C．Tim’s marriage      D．Tim’ s patients

LONDON—Here’s a new warning from health experts：Sitting is deadly.

Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for long periods—even if you also exercise regularly—could be bad for your health.And it doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place—at the office，at school，in the car or before a computer or TV—just the overall number of hours it occurs.Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat，have a heart attack or even die.

In an editorial published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine，Elin Ekblom?Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.

While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity，they haven’t suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position.

“After four hours of sitting，the body starts to send harmful signals，”said Ekblom?Bak.She explained that genes regulating(调节) the amount of glucose(葡萄糖) and fat in the body start to shut down.

Even for people who exercise，spending long periods of time sitting at a desk is still harmful.Tim Armstrong，a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization，said people who exercise every day—but still spend a lot of time sitting—might get more benefit if that exercise was spread across the day，rather than in a single bout(一回)．

Still，in a study published in 2009 that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years，researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk，whether or not they exercised.

“We don’t have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad，” said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge，who led the Canadian study.“But it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behavior，the better.”

Figures from a U．S. survey in 2003?2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting，from working at their desks to sitting in cars.

Experts said more research is needed to figure out just how much sitting is dangerous，and what might be possible to offset those effects.

“People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits，” Ekblom?Bak said.“But when they’re in the office，they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible，” she said.

1.What is the best title for the text?

A．Not Sitting Too Much While Working

B．How to Avoid Sitting Too Much

C．Sitting Too Much Could Be Deadly

D．More and More People Sit Too Much

2.According to the research，________.

A．the more time you spend in exercising in a single bout(一回)，the healthier you will be

B．those who often sit too much are sure to grow fat or suffer from a heart attack

C．regular exercise is effective to get rid of the side effects of sitting too much

D．you had better not sit for more than four hours in a single bout

3.How does the danger of sitting too much affect the human body?

A．It results in a higher death risk.

B．It increases glucose and fat in the body.

C．It makes a person unable to exercise long enough in a day.

D．It causes the gene to fail to balance the glucose and fat in the body.

4.The underlined word “offset” in Paragraph 10 most probably means “________”．

A．improve? B．avoid

C．ignore? D．achieve

A company advertised in the newspaper for a sales position. Details of the requirements, salary and benefits were given. It was also clearly stated that applicants needed to take an aptitude test (能力倾向测试) and an interview. However, looking at the whole advertisement, one could not find any contact information of the company.

Most interested applicants thought that it was the company’s HR department’s carelessness or a printing error. They therefore waited patiently for the newspaper to publish an amendment(订正). But instead of waiting for the newspaper to publish the company details, another three applicants took the initiative(主动性) to find out the company’s contact information themselves.

Tim did a search on the Internet. By typing the company’s name, he easily obtained all the information including its contact number. Lisa called up the local telephone number search service and found out the company’s office number. She called up the office and got the required contact information. Donna put in a greater effort in her search. She remembered seeing a poster by the same company in the city so she drove all the way down and made a few rounds to search for it. She finally found it together with the company’s contact information.

Three days after that advertisement was published in the newspaper, most interested applicants were still waiting eagerly for an amendment. On the other hand, the application letters and resumes of Tim, Lisa and Donna had already reached the hands of the company’s HR manager. They were then called up for an interview. During the interview, all went well and immediately they were hired. The three of them were a little surprised at how fast things went on. They were expecting for an aptitude test as stated in the advertisement. The HR director answered them, smiling, “Our test is hidden in the advertisement itself. To be a good salesperson in this age, he or she has to be broad-minded and very importantly, does not follow rigid (死板的) steps or rules. You are all clever. In a short time, you’ve managed to find ways of contacting us. It shows clearly that you have passed the test with flying colors!”

The fools sit around waiting for their chances whereas the wise actively take actions with great initiative.

1.According to the passage the company wanted to test the applicants’ ______.

2. Whose search skill is the easiest of all?

3.What can we infer from the passage?

4.Which of the statements is NOT correct according to the passage?

5.The writer wants to tell us through this passage that ______.

Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a-year-long and highly public battle with cancer. Jobs' death was announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday. The Apple.com homepage featured a black-and-white picture of him with the words "Steve Jobs, 1955-2011".

A message on the site read, "Apple has lost an imaginary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring leader."

"His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

"Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple." The Silicon Valley hero who gave the world the iPod and the iPhone had resigned as CEO of the world's largest technology corporation in August, handing the position to current chief executive Tim Cook.

Two years before the iPhone that forever transformed the way people around the world access and use the Internet, Jobs talked about how a sense of his death was a major driver behind that vision.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever got to help me make the big choices in life," Jobs said during a Stanford commencement ceremony in 2005. "Because almost everything－all others' expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure－these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

1.According to the passage, which statement of Steve Jobs is RIGHT?

    A. Steve Jobs was the present CEO of Apple.

    B. Steve Jobs was thought to have great talent.

    C. Steve Jobs had no idea about his death before.

    D. Steve Jobs fought against cancer for a year secretly.

2.What can we learn about iPhone from the passage?

    A. People can use it to do anything they want.

B. It can teach people how to surf the Internet.

    C. People can learn the spirit of Apple from it.

D. It can change the way people use the Internet.

3.In Jobs's speech in Stanford, we can learn that                         .

    A. to make great achievements, you must lose everything

B. people should try to achieve everything regardless of death

    C. people who will be dead soon must make big choices in life

    D. in the face of death, nothing is truly important except to follow your dream

4.What’s the main idea of the passage?

    A. Steve Jobs changed the world.

    B. Steve Jobs died on Wednesday.

    C. Who will be the next Steve Jobs?

    D. Steve Jobs, the greatest American CEO.

After a week-long vacation, U.S. President Barack Obama will focus on proposals to strengthen the still-recovering American economy. The agenda includes the reform of the nation’s health care system.

The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as some call it, expands federal health care programs for the needy and encourages Americans of all income groups to purchase private health care insurance.

“If you do not have insurance, beginning on October 1st, private plans will actually compete for your business. You can comparison--shop in an online marketplace, just like you would for cell phone plans or plane tickets. You may be eligible for new tax credits to help you afford the plan that’s right for you. And if you are in the up to half of all Americans who have been sick or have a preexisting condition, this law means that beginning January 1st, insurance companies have to cover you," Obama said.

Health-care spending accounts for one-seventh of U.S. economic activity, and is projected to increase to one-fifth in coming years. The cost has a direct bearing on America’s economic and financial well--being. Drawn up in 2010, the Affordable Care Act aims to control costs and expand access to health care. The effort is a big failure, according to Republican law makers like Tim Griffin and Todd Young.

“Republicans will continue to do everything we can to protect all Americans from the president's top-down, one-size-fits-all, Washington-knows-best approach to health care that is driving up costs and hurting our economy," said Griffin. “The sooner we can delay, oppose and cancel the president's health-care law, the sooner we can get people back to work and focus on expanding opportunity for everyone.”

The president accuses Republicans of putting partisanship(党派偏见) ahead of Americans’ health-care needs. “A lot of Republicans seem to believe that if they can gum up the works and make this law fail, they will somehow be sticking it to me. But they would just be sticking it to you. Your health insurance is not something to play politics with. Our economy is not something to play politics with," he said.

As a matter of fact，the success or failure of Obamacare could shape the president’s legacy long after he leaves office.

1.It is implied in Obama’s words in Paragraph 3 that       .

A. health care insurance will be of great benefit to Americans

B. health care insurance will help recover American economy

C. insurance companies don’t expect him to carry out the law

D. insurance companies will cover Americans in all aspects

2.According to Tim Griffin，Obama’s health-care law       .

A. will be strongly opposed to by the Republicans

B. will cause fewer economic problems in America

C. will be cancelled sooner or later by the government

D. will never work without the help of the Republicans.

3.What does Obama accuse Republicans of according to the passage?

A. They don’t know what Americans are in need of.

B. They tend to put their own benefit ahead of Americans’.

C. They know nothing about health insurance and economy.

D. They like to play politics with economy and health insurance

4.What is the author’s tone in this passage?

A.Subjective                        B.Critical            C.Unconcerned                   D.Objective