A woman was in a hurry to go to the airport. She told the cab driver to drive quickly. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she was not aware they were going by a different route.
Suddenly, a man got inside the cab. He took her handbag where she had placed her visa, passport, and all her money for the trip.
The driver, who was in cahoots with the robber, left her in the middle of that dark street. She cursed the world for being so mean to her, and thought how unlucky she was in that situation.
That very same night, she heard some shocking news．Tears flowed down her face．Flight 230,which was the plane that she was supposed to have boarded, had crashed．If she had not lost her precious belongings, she could have lost something far more important—her life．
Sometimes bad things really happen．We lose money, fail our exams, or are rejected by others．There are times when nothing seems to go our way．
So what should we do about it? Should we be disappointed? The answer is a resounding “No!" We must get rid of all these frustrations and start all over again in the consistent faith that we will get what we deserve．
Don't waste your time and energy on things that can't be changed．Continuous worrying will only affect your health and you'll be doing much more damage than what was previously done．
What if it was the other way round? What if we never ran out of good luck?
There was a man who won the lottery．He thought he was the luckiest person in the world．He became greedy and wasted all his money on everything he could get his hands on．
One day, he made it to the front page of the newspaper again．But this time, it was a different story．He had been killed because of his riches．
If you attain good luck, you can never be too secure about it．Hope for protection and guidance．Life is so unpredictable．You never know what will happen next．
Live one day at a time．we sometimes subject ourselves to unnecessary emotional trouble．We ask ourselves: "What if I don't get this done in time?" or "What if my family leaves me and I've got no one else to turn to?"
Live for the moment．Do what must be done for the present and the future will turn out just fine． Believe me．And believe in yourself．As Captain Planet always says: "The power is yours!"
【小题1】The underlined phrase "in cahoots with" in Paragraph 3 probably means "____"．

 A well-known English magazine invited five people to answer a series of

questions. One of the questions is: Do you enjoy foreign food? Match the name of each person to one of the statements given below.

56. John Harvey:

  In fact if you go out to a restaurant, it’s very difficult to find the “British” cooking, but you can find almost anything else: French, Italian, Chinese, Indian and so on. London is full of foreign restaurants. I love trying “new dishes.” I think you can understand a lot about another culture from its food.

57. Jo Baker:

  I like foreign food, but not all. I particularly do not like Indian food, although I quite enjoy a mild curry I make myself. I like most European dishes, but Spanish food is quite low down on my list. However, I think you have to travel a long way to beat good old English cooking. What can be nicer than the aroma of a piece of beef roasted in the oven, surrounded by crisp roast potatoes and served with piping hot Yorkshire puddings, vegetables and gravy? From my point of view, I think foreign food is all right when you are abroad. You see, that’s just part of the enjoyment of travelling to another country. Foreign food is also fine for an odd night out to restaurant, but for every day please give me good old English food.

58. Gabby Macadam:

  On the whole I enjoy foreign food, but having said that I can think of dozens of foreign dishes which I simply can’t stand. You see, they have fish in some way or other and I never eat fish in any form. I have found that many foreign dishes are served with a kind of sauce. I think it is the accompanying sauce that hides all sorts of problems. I am not so sure that I would be as fond of them as I am if they were served without the sauce.

59. Len Dangerfield:

  When we English people travel abroad, we always make a great fuss about studying the menu but always end up with steak. You see, when I’m abroad I always miss our home cooking. I mean, I’m used to English food. Sometimes I do go to restaurant to taste some exotic dishes, but most of the time I still prefer to have English food. You know, it’s always difficult to get used to food in other countries.

60. Peter Hawke:

  I like foreign food. I particularly like Indian food. Well, I’m married to an Indian girl. She is a good cook. I’m so lucky to have her cook for me every day. I think Indian food as well as other foreign foods is generally tastier and spicier than English food. Traditional English dishes, like roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and fish and chips, are quite well-known abroad. But I must say as a nation we are not particularly good at catering. As far as I’m concerned, I think we should learn to cook more interesting dishes and make our food tastier and more varied.

A. Cooking varies from country to country even though the basic gradients may be very much the same.

B. I can’t stand those foreign dishes which contain fish in some way or other, and I’m not so sure that I’m fond of many foreign dishes which are served with a kind sauce.

C. I think foreign food is all right when you are abroad, but for every day, traditional English food is always my first choice.

D. Foreign dishes can be tasted occasionally, but I find it difficult to adjust to the tastes. So I still prefer English food.

E. I love foreign food, and I think people can understand a lot about another culture from what they eat.

F. English people should learn to cook more attractive dishes and make their food more delicious and varied.

A French father-of-two who swam across the Channel 16 years after losing all his limbs(四肢) in an electrical accident said Sunday that he was “the happiest man alive.”

Philippe Croizon, a 42-year-old former metalworker, said he had performed his feat(壮举)to inspire all those “who think life is nothing but suffering.”

He set off from Folkestone in southern England just before 8:00 am on Saturday, and arrived on the French coast near Wissant just before 9:30 pm, aided by his specially designed flipper-shaped prosthetic(假肢的)legs.

Steadying himself with his prosthetic arms, Croizon kept up a constant speed in good weather and was accompanied by wild dolphins for part of the 33-kilometre (20-mile) crossing. “For a while, I didn’t realize what I’d done. It was only that night, when I went to bed, that suddenly I burst out laughing, and told myself, ‘You did it!’,” he told AFP by telephone from his home in northern France.

In 1994 Croizon was hit by a 20,000-volt charge as he attempted to remove a television aerial from a house roof. “I was on my hospital bed; they’d just finished cutting off my last leg. You can imagine how that felt. And then I saw a television documentary on a female swimmer who crossed the Channel,” he explained.

“There and then, I asked myself: ‘Why not me one day?’” he said.

Croizon trained for two years and last month completed a 12-hour swim between the ports of Noirmoutier and Pornic on France’s Atlantic coast, but his final Channel crossing was much faster than he had expected. “I wanted to slow down, but I couldn’t. The motor was running,” he said, adding that he had expected to be at sea for 24 hours.

“It was huge. I was in the zone. I was inside my head. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone,” he said, declaring that his next long-distance challenge will be to swim between Europe and Africa.

60. What led to Philippe’s decision to swim across the English Channel?

A. The aim to inspire all those suffering from disabilities.

B. His strong will and determination.

C. The female swimmer who crossed the Channel.

D. His unfortunate experience.

61. We can infer from the passage that ______.

A. Philippe’s success in crossing the Channel was incredible

B. the wild dolphins kept him company all the way

C. it took him 24 hours to cross the Channel

D. Philippe planned to travel to Africa

62. What does the underlined sentence mean in the last paragraph?

A. Philippe was swimming in his head.

B. Philippe filled his mind with determination to succeed.

C. Philippe was imagining his success.

D. Philippe was dreaming about his swimming across the Channel.

63. What can be the best title of the passage?

A. Limbless Man Crosses The English Channel

B. Crossing The Channel with Prosthetic Flippers.

C. Philippe’s Purpose of Crossing the Channel.

D. How Philippe Became Limbless.

       A purse containing a million dollars worth of jewelry was on its way back to its owner in Canada after being forgotten on a bench in a town near San Francisco , police said .

       Shahla Ghannadian had entrusted her 2 , 00-dollar Louis Vuitton handbag and its precious contents to her husband after they stopped at an ice cream parlor in the city of Sunday , according to authorities .

       He left it on a bench near a downtown parking lot , and the oversight was not noticed until the couple was back at their hotel , said Sausalito police sergeant Kurtis Skoog

       The couple had traveled from Toronto to San Francisco for a daughter’s wedding .

       The purse contained a Cartier watch , cash , and jewelry worn by the mother and the bride at the ceremony , said Skoog .

       The gems included emeralds , pearls and diamonds , one of them a 12-karat stone , according to police .

       Ghannadian and her husband had a bit of sightseeing before catching a flight back to Canada on Sunday night . Family members checked the bench , but the purse was gone .

       Local resident John Suhroff walked into the police department the next day with the bag , its contents intact , Skoog said .

       Suhroff handed the bag to a clerk , saying it held “ either costume of junk jewelry ” . “ We caped the owner . and they were excited , ” said Skoog .

       A family friend picked up the bag and was to take it to Ghannadian . The family indicated Ssuhroff was in line for a reward , but did not specify an amount , Skoog said .

56．From the passage , we now all the following facts EXCEPT _______

       A．A purse with jewelry in it was lost

B．The lost purse was left on a bench

C．The owner must have been to a place near San Francisco

D．The lost purse had been returned to the loser

57．When did the couple find their purse was missing ?      

       A．soon after they bought ice cram .

B．when they got on the pane flying back to Toronto

C．when they came back to the hotel after the wedding ceremony

D．when they were attending the wedding ceremony .

58．The finder Suhroff _____ .

       A．thought the content in the purse isn’t worth much

B．turned in the purse immediately he found it

C．kept back some of the jewelry for himself

D．asked for some reward

59．We may infer ______ from the passage .

       A．the couple will fly to take the purse back

B．the couple may reward the finder more of less

C．the finder has received a sum of money from the loser

D．the couple didn’t suggest rewarding the finder

A woman was in a hurry to go to the airport. She told the cab driver to drive quickly. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she was not aware they were going by a different route.
Suddenly, a man got inside the cab. He took her handbag where she had placed her visa, passport, and all her money for the trip.
The driver, who was in cahoots with the robber, left her in the middle of that dark street. She cursed the world for being so mean to her, and thought how unlucky she was in that situation.
That very same night, she heard some shocking news.Tears flowed down her face.Flight 230,which was the plane that she was supposed to have boarded, had crashed.If she had not lost her precious belongings, she could have lost something far more important—her life.
Sometimes bad things really happen.We lose money, fail our exams, or are rejected by others.There are times when nothing seems to go our way.
So what should we do about it? Should we be disappointed? The answer is a resounding “No!" We must get rid of all these frustrations and start all over again in the consistent faith that we will get what we deserve.
Don't waste your time and energy on things that can't be changed.Continuous worrying will only affect your health and you'll be doing much more damage than what was previously done.
What if it was the other way round? What if we never ran out of good luck?
There was a man who won the lottery.He thought he was the luckiest person in the world.He became greedy and wasted all his money on everything he could get his hands on.
One day, he made it to the front page of the newspaper again.But this time, it was a different story.He had been killed because of his riches.
If you attain good luck, you can never be too secure about it.Hope for protection and guidance.Life is so unpredictable.You never know what will happen next.
Live one day at a time.we sometimes subject ourselves to unnecessary emotional trouble.We ask ourselves: "What if I don't get this done in time?" or "What if my family leaves me and I've got no one else to turn to?"
Live for the moment.Do what must be done for the present and the future will turn out just fine. Believe me.And believe in yourself.As Captain Planet always says: "The power is yours!"

1. 1.

   The underlined phrase "in cahoots with" in Paragraph 3 probably means "____".

   1. A.
      was forced by
   2. B.
      was fighting bravely with
   3. C.
      had cooperated with
   4. D.
      was trying to beg
2. 2.

   From the passage, we learn that___.

   1. A.
      the woman was lucky to miss her flight
   2. B.
      some people just never run out of good luck
   3. C.
      robbers will get what they deserve
   4. D.
      if you feel yourself lucky, you will continue to be so
3. 3.

   According to the author, which of the following is the right attitude to adopt towards life?

   1. A.
      Don't waste your time and energy because time is limited.
   2. B.
      There's no need to worry or get frustrated.Just believe in yourself.
   3. C.
      Even when everything seems to be going well, we should keep fully alert.
   4. D.
      Worrying about what you don't have means you miss out on opportunities for other things.
4. 4.

   The stories are intended to tell us___.

   1. A.
      fortune only favors the prepared mind
   2. B.
      gains and losses go hand in hand
   3. C.
      misfortune might be a blessing
   4. D.
      we should save up for a rainy day