阅读理解
Pasta and pizza were on everyone’s lunch menu in my native land of Italy. Everyone who had such a lunch was fair-skinned and spoke Italian. A few years later, as I stood in the lunch line with my kindergarten class in a school in Brooklyn, I realized things were no longer that simple. My classmates ranged from those kids with pale skin and large blue eyes to those with rich brown skin and dark hair. The food choices were almost as diverse as the students. In front of me was an array of foods I couldn’t even name in my native language. Fearing that I would pick out something awful, I desperately tried to ask the boy ahead of me for a recommendation. Unfortunately, between us stood the barrier of language.
Although my kindergarten experience feels like a century ago, the lessons I learned will stick in my mind forever. For the past three summers, I have worked in a government agency in New York. New immigrants much like the little girl in the lunch line flooded our office seeking help. I often had to be an interpreter for the Italian-speaking ones. As I served the role of vital communication link, I was reminded of my desperate struggle to converse before I learned English. I watched with great sympathy as elderly Italians tried to hold a conversation in Italian with people who did not speak the language. It suddenly became very clear to me how lucky I was to be fluent in two languages.
In New York, a multicultural city, students like me are blessed with a chance to work with a diverse population. In my English to Italian translations, I’ve learned about social programs that I didn’t know existed. This work expanded my mind in ways that are impossible inside the four walls of a classroom. Walking through the streets of Brooklyn today, I am no longer confused by this city’s sounds and smells. Instead, enjoy its diversity.
21 ． What did the author realize after entering school in Brooklyn?
A ． Time passed quickly. B ． English was hard to learn.
C ． The food was terrible. D ． People were very different.
22 ． Who does “the little girl” in paragraph 2 refer to?
A ． An Italian teacher. B ． A government official.
C ． The author herself. D ． The author’s classmate.
23 ． How did the summer job benefit the author?
A ． It strengthened her love for school. B ． It helped sharpen her sense of direction.
C ． It opened her eyes to the real world. D ． It made her childhood dream come true.
All around the world, there are small changes taking place. At the side of roads, behind school playgrounds and on all kinds of unloved pieces of land across towns and cities, tiny forests barely the size of tennis courts are appearing, making a great place for both wildlife and local people who may not normally have easy access to nature. This is the Tiny Forest movement, which aims to prove that the best things in life really do come in small packages.
Tiny forests were first pioneered as a concept in the 1970s by Dr Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist. As he went on to share his concept with others, the idea soon took off in India and other countries before eventually reaching Europe, where it became popular in places like France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
So how does it work? Louise Hartley, who is leading the Tiny Forest project in the UK, explains that the process begins by identifying areas in which a tiny forest could have the biggest influence. “We focus on urban areas where access to nature is often not that easy”, says Hartley. “We see it as a chance to try to break the growing disconnect between people and nature.”
In a Tiny Forest, there must be a minimum of 600 trees, and the trees are planted much closer together and without chemicals or fertilisers ( 肥料 ). There are usually around 30 different kinds of all-native tree species ( 物种 ). This variety, coupled with the fact that tiny forests grow up to ten times faster than standard forests, means they attract a rich abundance of wildlife. It’s also thought that these places could help reduce the risk of flooding, remove carbon from the atmosphere and fight climate change, as well as improving the mental health of those living locally.
24 ． What do we know about the Tiny Forest movement?
A ． It has achieved notable success. B ． It is led by number of schools.
C ． It began in Europe in the 1970s. D ． It will spread to the countryside.
25 ． What is the purpose of the project led by Hartley in the UK?
A ． To promote eco-tourism. B ． To improve forestry research.
C ． To popularise gardening. D ． To get people close to nature.
26 ． What is special about the trees in a Tiny Forest?
A ． They are small in size. B ． They are thickly planted.
C ． They are foreign species. D ． They are heavily fertilised.
Many people believe that working to the maximum is the secret to success, but research has found that moderation( 适度 ) also gets results on the job.
In a study led by Ellen Langer of Harvard University, researchers asked people to translate sentences into a new a made-up language. Subjects who practiced the language moderately beforehand made fewer errors than those who practiced extensively or not at all. High levels of knowledge can make people too attached to traditional ways of viewing problems across fields the arts, sciences, and politics. High conscientiousness is related to lower job performance, especially in simple jobs where it doesn’t pay to be a perfectionist.
How long we stay on the clock and how we spend that time are under careful examination in many workplaces. The young banker who eats lunch at his desk is probably seen as a go-getter , while his colleagues who chat over a relaxed conference-room meal get dirty looks from the corner office. “People from cultures that value relationships more than ours does are shocked by the thought of eating alone in front of a computer”, says Art Markman, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. Social interaction has been shown to lift mood( 情绪 ) and get people thinking in new directions and in ways that could help improve any post-lunch effort.
Markman also promotes off-task time. “Part of being a good thinker is experiencing things that are seemingly unrelated to what you are working on at the moment but give you fresh ideas about your work,” he says. “Also, there is a lot of research showing that a positive mood leads to higher levels of productivity and creativity. So, when people do things to increase their life satisfaction, they also make themselves more effective at work.”
27 ． What does Ellen Langer’s study show?
A ． It is worthwhile to be a perfectionist B ． Translation makes people knowledgeable.
C ． Simpler jobs require greater caution. D ． Moderate effort produces the best result.
28 ． The underlined word “go-getter” in paragraph 3 refers to someone Who_______.
A ． is good at handling pressure B ． works hard to become successful
C ． a has a natural talent for his job. D ． gets on well with his co-workers
29 ． What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A ． A good thinker is able to inspire other people.
B ． Experience unrelated to your job is useless.
C ． A cheerful mood helps make a creative mind.
D ． Focusing on what you do raises productivity.
30 ． What does the text seem to advocate?
A ． Middle-of-the-road work habits. B ． Balance between work and family.
C ． Long-standing cultural traditions. D ． Harmony in the work environment.
七选五
I have a drawer full of letters to Santa. Each year my children would write up their Christmas wish lists. They were polite requests for the latest game or toy. As the children got older, they would give Santa some hints( 提示 )on where to buy their presents. 31
Those letters taught my children a valuable lesson about writing: It has a purpose. Sometimes our purpose is to achieve something;other times it may be to entertain, inform, or persuade. 32 And when writing doesn’t seem to have any purpose or get any kind of meaningful response, then it can be hard to get excited about doing it.
Christmas is a great time of year for children to communicate with others through writing. When children write for real audiences and real purposes, they can learn to choose their words accordingly. 33 You write “Dear Santa” because you don’t know him personally and you want to show him respect.
34 Texting, online messaging, live chats while playing video games all mean that they are constantly producing written messages. However, because they are usually writing to family and friends, they use informal language most of the time.
There is nothing wrong with this kind of writing. It suits the audience and the purpose and gets the job done. 35 This type of writing won’t be rewarded by the school examiner, nor by a future employer or a potential client. The very best communicators are those who know how to adjust their language to match their audience.
A ． It isn’t that these young people can’t write.
B ． But it is always purposeful-or at least it should be.
C ． The age of pen-and-paper letter writing may have passed.
D ． As a result, each year they received something they wanted.
E ． You write “Hi Nanna and Pop” because you are close to them.
F ． As technology develops, young people are writing more than they ever have.
G ． But if this is the only kind of writing young people do, it will cause problems.