【題目】Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. And I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happened.

I got in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane (車道) when all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver used his brakes (車閘), the tires made a loud noise, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch (英寸) from the back of the other car.

I couldn’t believe it. But then I couldn’t believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, turned his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. I couldn’t believe it!

And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call: “The Law of the Garbage Truck (垃圾車).” He said: But then here’s what really blew me away. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. So, I said: “Why did you just do that? This guy could have killed us!

“Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and

full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump (傾倒) it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you.“So one day when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Believe me. You’ll be happier.”

So I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the street? It was then that I said: “I don’t want their garbage and I’m not going to spread it anymore.”

I began to see Garbage Trucks. I see the load people are carrying. I see them coming to dump it. And like my taxi driver, I don’t take it personally. I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.

【1】When the author saw his taxi driver smile and wave at the driver of the black car, he _____.

A. was deeply impressed

B. got very angry

C. felt quite disappointed

D. complimented him on his good manners

【2】How did the author learn to deal with Garbage Trucks?

A. Fight back immediately.

B. Smile and move on.

C. Call the police for help.

D. Dump it on someone else

【題目】Every one of the gymnasts who went to National Qualifiers (國家冠軍賽資格賽) showed up with that goal in mind. Everyone gave it their all.

And I hate admitting it, but I was an exception. I did not do my best. Not for the ribbon exercise, nor for the club exercise. Knowing that I could have reached a little further to catch my ribbon, focused a little more so the stick wouldn’t slip through my fingers, tried a little harder to clean up those errors, but I didn’t, still bothers me.

After my disappointing competition, I tried my best to keep my eyes dry. But soon tears burned the edges of my eyes, and as I blinked, the first tear rolled down my cheek. Even though I angrily wiped my tears away before she looked at me, the evidence of my self-pity session presented itself clearly in the form of dirty makeup and reddened eyes.

My mom hated to see me cry, especially because I had no right or reason to. I had messed up — that wasn’t anyone’s fault but mine — and crying wouldn’t help at all. “Why are you crying, Amanda?” she asked, perhaps more pointedly (尖刻地) than intended, but I heard the concern in her voice. Unable to form all the emotions into words, I just looked away and avoided her questions.

“Tell me now why you’re crying.” Her voice this time wasn’t as gentle as it was before; it was filled with frustration and impatience. “Why are you crying?” she whispered again, but this time her voice was shaky and flooded with pain. This was the first time I’d ever seen my mom cry; my mom, who was always so strong and was there to encourage me through the roughest times, was now crying, and I was the reason for it. Finding my voice, I tentatively asked, “Why are you crying?”

She looked at me and answered exactly what I was afraid to hear, “I hate to see you hurting yourself.” So it was my fault. I had put those tears in her eyes. I had filled her with pain, with helplessness and with sadness.

I’ll never forget her pained expression. It forced me to realize how shortsighted and close-minded I’d been. I decided that no matter what happens in the future, I will never lose myself to regret.

【1】Which words reflect the change of the mother’s emotions?

A. Painful — impatient — concerned

B. Concerned — frustrated — painful

C. Satisfied — painful — frustrated

D. Frustrated — angry — painful

【2】What did Amanda determine to do?

A. Never cry in face of her mom.

B. Never compete as a gymnast.

C. Never involve herself in self-pity.

D. Never make up before games.

【題目】My advisor encouraged __________ a summer course to improve my writing skills.

A. for me taking

B. me taking

C. for me to take

D. me to take

【題目】Human beings have used tools for a very long time. In some parts of the world you can still find tools that people used more than two million years ago. They made these tools by hitting one stone against another. In this way, they broke off pieces from one of the stones. These chips of stone were usually sharp on one side. People used them for cutting meat and skin from dead animals, and also for making other tools out of wood. Human beings needed to use tools because they did not have sharp teeth like other meat eating animals, such as lions and tigers. Tools helped people to get food more easily.

Working with tools also helped to develop human intelligence. The human brain grew bigger, and human beings began to invent more and more tools and machines. The stone chip was one of the first tools that people used, and perhaps it is the most important. Some scientists say that it was the key to success of mankind.

Since 1960 a new kind of tool has appeared. This is the silicon chip (硅芯片). It is smaller than a finger nail, but it can store lots of information. It is an electronic brain. Every year these chips get cleverer, but their size gets smaller, and their cost gets less. They are used in watches, calculators and intelligent machines that we can use in many ways. In the future we will not need to work with tools in the old way. Machines will do everything for us. People will have plenty of spare time. But what will they do with it?

Human beings used stone chips for more than two million years, but human life changed very little in that time. We have used silicon chips for only a few years, but life is changing faster every day. What will life be like twenty years from now? What will the world be like two million years from now?

【1】The silicon chip is mentioned in the passage to ________.

A. show the changes of tools

B. introduce a new kind of tool

C. give an example of using tools

D. compare the effects of two kinds of tools

【2】At the end of the passage the author seems to suggest that life in future is ________.

A. out of order B. less colorful

C. hard to predict D. full of meanings

【題目】—What shall we present our grandma's birthday? A jacket, a hand of flowers, a birthday cake...?

— __________. Let's buy her a birthday cake.

A. It's my pleasure B. That's it

C. That's true D. That's right

【題目】He is very popular among his students as he always tries to make them __________ in his lectures.

A. interested

B. interesting

C. interest

D. to interest

【題目】Dear Dad,

Today I was at the shopping mall and I spent a lot of time reading the Father's Day cards. They all had a special message that in some way or another reflected how I feel about you. Yet as I selected and read, it occurred to me that not a single card said what I really want to say to you.

You'll soon be 84 years old, Dad, and you and I will have had 55 Father's Days together. I haven't always been with you on Father's Day but I've always been with you in my heart.

You know, Dad, there was a time when we were separated by the generation gap. You stood on one side of the Great Divide and I on the other.

The Father-Daughter Duel shifted into high gear ( 檔位) when you taught me to drive the old Dodge and I decided I would drive the '54 Chevy whether you liked it or not. The police officer who sent me home, after you reported the Chevy stolen, didn't have much tolerance for a stubborn 16 year old, while you were so tolerant about it, Dad, and I think that was probably what made it the worst night of my life.

Our relationship greatly improved when I married a man you liked, and things really turned around when we began making babies right and left. Somewhere along the line, the generation gap disappeared. I suppose I saw us and our relationship as aging together, rather like a fine wine.

But the strangest thing happened last week. I was at a stop sign and I watched as you turned the corner in your car. It didn't immediately occur to me that it was you because the man driving looked so elderly and fragile behind the wheel of that huge car. It was rather like a slap in the face delivered from out of nowhere. Perhaps I saw your age for the first time that day.

I guess what I'm trying to say, Dad, is what every son and daughter wants to say to their Dad today. Honoring a father on Father's Day is about respect and sharing and acceptance and tolerance and giving and taking. It's about loving someone more than words can say, and it's wishing that never had to end.

I love you, Dad.

Love,

Jenny

【1】How did Jenny probably feel on the night she was sent home by the police?

A. Disappointed. B. Nervous.

C. Guilty. D. Frightened.

【2】Jenny wrote his father this letter to _________

A. tell him about their conflicts

B. say sorry for her being stubborn

C. express her gratitude to him

D. remind him of the early incident

【題目】Recordings of angry bees are enough to send big, tough African elephants running away, a new study says. Beehives (蜂窩)-either recorded or real-may even prevent elephants from damaging farmer's crops.

In 2002, scientist Lucy King and her team found that elephants avoid certain trees with bees living in them. Today, Lucy wants to see if African honeybees might discourage elephants from eating crops. But before she asked farmer to go to the trouble of setting up beehives on their farms, she needed to find out if the bees would scare elephants away.

Lucy found a wild beehive inside a tree in northern Kenya and set up a recorder. Then she threw a stone into the beehive, which burst into life. Lucy and her assistant hid in their car until the angry bees had calmed down. Next，Lucy searched out elephant families in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya and put a speaker in a close to each family.

From a distance, Lucy switched on the pre-recorded sound of angry bees while at the same time recording the elephants with a video camera. Half the elephant groups left the area within ten seconds. Out of a total of 17 groups, only one group ignored the sound of the angry bees. Lucy reported that all the young elephants immediately ran to their mothers to hide under them. When Lucy Played the sound of a waterfall (瀑布) instead of the angry bees to many of the same elephant families, the animals were undisturbed. Even after four minutes, most of the groups stayed in one place.

Lucy is now studying whether the elephants will continue to avoid the sound of angry bees after hearing it several times. She hasn't tested enough groups yet to know, but her initial (最初的) results were promising enough to begin trials with farmers. She has now begun placing speakers in the fields to see if elephants are frightened away.

【1】As mentioned in the passage, Lucy

A. works by herself in Africa

B. needs to test more elephant groups

C. has stopped elephants eating crops

D. has got farmers to set up beehives on their farms

【2】Why did Lucy throw a stone into a wild beehive?

A. To record the sound of bees.

B. To make a video of elephants.

C. To see if elephants would run away.

D. To find out more about the behavior of bees.

【3】Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Young elephants ignore African honeybees.

B. Waterfalls can make elephants stay in one place.

C. Elephants do not go near trees with bees living in them.

D. Farmers do not allow Lucy to conduct tests in their fields.

【題目】People aren’t walking any more--- if they can figure out a way to avoid it.

I felt superior about this matter until the other day I took my car to mail a small parcel. The journey is a matter of 281 steps. But I used the car. And I wasn’t in any hurry, either, I had merely become one more victim of a national sickness: motorosis.

It is an illness to which I had thought myself immune, for I was bred in the tradition of going to places on my own two legs. At that time, we regarded 25 miles as good day’s walk and the ability to cover such a distance in ten hours as a sign of strength and skill. It did not occur to us that walking was a hardship. And the effect was lasting. When I was 45 years old I raced –and beat—a teenage football player the 168 steps up the Stature of Liberty.

Such enterprises today are regarded by many middle-aged persons as bad for the heart. But a well-known British physician, Sir Adolphe Abrhams, pointed out recently that hearts and bodies need proper exercise. A person who avoids exercise is more likely to have illnesses than one who exercises regularly. And walking is an ideal form of exercise--- the most familiar and natural of all. It was Henry Thoreau who showed mankind the richness of going on foot. The man walking can learn the trees, flower, insects, birds and animals, the significance of seasons, the very feel of himself as a living creature in a living world. He cannot learn in a car.

The car is a convenient means of transport, but we have made it our way of life. Many people don’t dare to approach Nature any more; to them the world they were born to enjoy is all threat. To them security is a steel river thundering on a concrete road. And much of their thinking takes place while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

I say that the green of forests is the mind’s best light. And none but the man on foot can evaluate what is basic and everlasting.

【1】What was life like when the author was young?

A. people often walked 25 miles a day

B. People usually went around on foot.

C. People used to climb the Statue of Liberty.

D. people considered a ten-hour walk as a hardship.

【2】The author mentions Henry Thoreau to prove that ________.

A. middle-aged people like getting back to nature

B. people need regular exercise to keep fit

C. walking in nature helps enrich one’s mind

D. going on foot prevents heart disease

【3】What is compared to “a steel river” in Paragraph6?

A. A ray of traffic light B. A queue of cars

C. A flash of lightning D. A stream of people

【題目】—Did you enjoy yourself at the party?

—Yes. I've never been to __________ one before.

A. a more excited

B. the most excited

C. a more exciting

D. the most exciting