put clean sand in a thin glass box, and then we waited for the live ants to arrive. Shortly after the chilly
ants were dropped into the glass structure, they got to work making tunnels. I was amazed that each one
knew exactly what to do. After hours of staring, I realized that the ants had assigned jobs. With my
mom " s help, I kept a diary of what happened each day and named the ants.
One day a tragedy struck the ant farm. The pages of the diary, still wrinkled where tear drops fell,
indicate the depth of the tragedy." I had put my face so close to the structure that I accidentally tipped it
over, caving in all the tunnels. Although the ants survived their earthquake, one by one they began to die.
I was terrified as I watched them give up their tunnel-building to carry the bodies to a comer of the farm. My mother reported that the ants were dying of "frustration." They simply could not stand the reality that
their tunnels had been destroyed.
Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me
about the natural world, but it taught me much more. Over the years, I came to realize the ants were a
study in the benefits of teamwork. Working together, they were able to create an amazing world for
themselves. I also learned that they should be admired for their hard work. Day in and day out, each
labored at their task. The ant farm showed that teamwork and perseverance are indeed two key
ingredients to success. But there was an even larger lesson that I did not realize until recently: Adversity (不幸、灾祸) is a natural part of life, and must be accepted. Unlike the ants, humans cannot give up
when they face disappointment. Unlike the ants, we have to realize that if a tunnel caves in, we just have
to build another. Giving up, I say, is not a choice.
B. to get sun light in
C. to keep the sand clean
D. for the boy to observe
B. The earthquake
C. The ants.
D. The tragedy.
B. Humans cannot give up when facing adversity.
C. People should admire anyone for their hard work.
D. His mother taught him much more.
B. When he was seven years old.
C. Immediately after the tragedy.
D. Many years after the tragedy
was a dictionary intended for 2 learners, none of my classmates had one and, to be honest, I found it
extremely 3 to use at first. I would look up words in the dictionary and still not fully understand the
meaning. I was used to the 4 bilingual dictionaries, in which the words are 5 both in English and
Chinese. I really wondered why my aunt 6 to make things so difficult for me. Now, after studying
English at university for three years, I 7 that monolingual dictionaries are 8 in learning a foreign
language.
As I found out, there is , in fact, often no perfect equivalence (对应) between two 9 in two language. My aunt even goes so far as to 10 that a Chinese "equivalent" can never give you the 11 meaning of a
word in English! Therefore, she insisted that I read the definition (定义) of a word in a monolingual
dictionary when I wanted to get a better understanding of its meaning. 12 , I have come to see what
she meant.
Using a monolingual dictionary for learners has helped me in another important way. This dictionary
uses a (n) 13 number of words, around 2,000, in its definitions. When I read these definitions, I am 14
exposed to the basic words and learn how they are used to explain 15 and ideas. Because of this, I can
express myself more easily in English.
( )12. A. native
( )13. A. difficult
( )14. A. new
( )15. A. explained
( )16. A. offered
( )17. A. imagine
( )18. A. natural
( )19. A. words
( )10. A. hope
( )11. A. exact
( )12. A. Largely
( )13. A. extra
( )14. A. repeatedly
( )15. A. feelings
B. non-native
B. interesting
B. familiar
B. expressed
B. agreed
B. recommend
B. better
B. names
B. declare
B. basic
B. Generally
B. average
B. nearly
B. phenomena
C. elementary
C. handy
C. earlier
C. described
C. decided
C. predict
C. easier
C. ideas
C. doubt
C. translated
C. Gradually
C. total
C. immediately
C. issues
D. advanced
D. practical
D. ordinary
D. created
D. happened
D. understand
D. convenient
D. characters
D. tell
D. expected
D. Probably
D. limited
D. anxiously
D. objects
and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up
as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as
if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was
moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not
particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I
looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just
another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As
we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then
the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and
decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me.
Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and
was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all
around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him
to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his
weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.
B. pleasant
C. exciting
D. dull
B. The mountains along the way.
C. The crowds of people in the streets.
D. The simple lunch served on the train.
B. enjoy
C. prepare for
D. carry on
B. The Causeway.
C. Butterworth
D. Singapore
B. Pleasure of living in the country.
C. Reading gives people delight.
D. Smiles brighten people up.
beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.
My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was
only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I"m so glad I did.
On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself
was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel
to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big humps(脊背) in the distance.
On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn"t believe it ——there
aren"t any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay,
in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.
The little baby whale——actually as big as our boat——was obviously stuck and could not move.
The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡) and waves.
"She"s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side, "my father said. At this point, my father moved our
boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently.
With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up
right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started
heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay
channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, some-times rising from the water right beside us to
breathe——and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean
water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the
distance.
In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for
almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day, Nearly four decades later, I
still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.
B. he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea
C. he experienced the rescue of the whales
D. he spent the weekend with his family
B. the arms of the bay
C. the still water in the channel
D. the long coast line
B. the whirlpools she had made were not big enough
C. she had no other whales around to turn to for help
D. the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction
B. It is dangerous for the whales to stay too long in the bay.
C. The whales could manage to escape on their own.
D. Finally, the whales began to trust the author and his family.
B. Fishing provides excitement for children.
C. It"s necessary to live in harmony with animals.
D. It"s vital to protect the environment.
It was a cold winter afternoon. Robert stopped for a moment as he crossed the bridge and looked
down at the river below. There were hardly any 1 on the river. Near the bridge, however, almost
direct below, 2 was a small canoe (独木舟), with a boy in it. The boy was wearing 3 and shivering (颤抖) with cold, Robert noticed.
Just then he heard a cry, “Help! Help!” The cry 4 from the river. Robert looked down. The boy
was 5 the water and his canoe was floating away. “Help! Help!” he called again.
Robert was a good 6 . Taking off his clothes, he 7 into the river.
The 8 water made him tremble(颤抖) all over, 9 in a few seconds he reached the boy.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said and started to swim towards the river bank, 10 the boy with him. But at
that 11 he noticed a large motor boat under the bridge. There were several people on the boat,
all 12 in his direction. Robert 13 to swim towards the boat.
“Give me a hand,” he shouted 14 he got near the boat. He 15 up into a row of faces. “It’s
funny,” he thought. “They look so 16 .” Silently they helped the boy into the
boat and 17 him in a blanket (毯子). But they did not move to 18 Robert.
“Aren’t you going to pull me 19 , too?”
“You!” said one of the men. Robert noticed that he was standing next to a large 20 . “You! Why,
we were making a film and you spoiled (破坏) a whole afternoon’s work! You can stay in the water!”
( )2.A. there
( )3.A. more
( )4.A. happened
( )5.A. on
( )6.A. swimmer
( )7.A. threw
( )8.A. deep
( )9.A. but
( )10.A. pushing
( )11.A. place
( )12.A. seeing
( )13.A. decided
( )14.A. while
( )15.A. turned
( )16.A. nervous
( )17.A. wrapped
( )18.A. save
( )19.A. on
( )20 A. boat
B. it
B. many
B. went
B. within
B. guard
B. looked
B. cool
B. so
B. dragging
B. period
B. smiling
B. went
B. till
B. looked
B. afraid
B. left
B. thank
B. out
B. blanket
C. where
C. much
C. arrived
C. in
C. soldier
C. jumped
C. dirty
C. and
C. holding
C. second
C. looking
C. agreed
C. for
C. hurried
C. excited
C. placed
C. wrap
C. away
C. camera
D. that
D. little
D. came
D. under
D. player
D. turned
D. cold
D. or
D. catching
D. moment
D. shouting
D. promised
D. as
D. stood
D. angry
D. threw
D. help
D. off
D. screen
I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards
from the job. I also think my work is important. There was a time when I thought I would never have that
sort of career(职业).
I wasn’t an excellent student because I didn’t do much schoolwork. In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn‘t have much to offer. I just accepted that I wasn’t the type to have a
career.
I then found myself a job, looking after two little girls. It wasn’t too bad at first. But the problems
began when I agreed to live in, so that I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the
evening. We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week,she’d give me time off the next. But
unfortunately, it didn’t often work out. I was getting extremely tired and fed up, because I had too many
late nights and early mornings with the children.
One Sunday,I was in the park with the children,and met Megan who used to go to school with
me. I told her about my situation. She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification
(资格证书)if I wanted to work with children. I didn‘t think I would be accepted because I didn’t
take many exams in school. She persuaded me to phone the local college and they were really helpful.
My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part-time course. I had to leave my job with the family,
and got work helping out at a kindergarten.
Now I’ve got a full-time job there. I shall always be thankful to Megan. I wish I had known earlier
that you could have a career,even if you aren’t top of the class at school.
B. often worked long hours
C. got much help from her boss
D. took a day off every other week
B. She was fed up with children.
C. She decided to attend a part-time course.
D. She needed a rest after working extra hours..
B. Qualifications are necessary for a career.
C. Hard work makes an excellent student.
D. One must choose the job she like
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