told her husband how terrible her day had been, how tiring the work and how unreasonable her boss. "Leave
that job," her husband told her.
"Oh, I will," she said."But not yet. I have too many friends there for me to leave." And so she remained
unhappy at work until the years became decades and her children had children."Leave that job", her grandchildren told her."Oh, I will," she said."But not yet. There are only seven more years until I reach thirty years of service and can retire. So I can"t just yet."
I know this woman. And her story reminds me of an old dog half asleep on the porch of a general store,
moaning and groaning in the sun."Why is your dog acting that way?" a customer asked the store owner." Oh",
answered the man,"He"s lying on a nail." "Well, why doesn"t he move?""Because it"s not hurting him bad
enough."
That"s true for people, too. We convince ourselves the pain is not bad enough to leave the workplace we
know. But we are wrong. Prolonged work pain is continuing. Some work pain damages our self-esteem, kills
our passion or destroys our dreams.
Wilbur Wright once commented,"We could hardly wait to get up in the morning. I know that exhilarating
feeling of being so passionate about something I was working on that I couldn"t wait to get back to work. And
people who are winning at working know that kind of passion, too." They get excited about work.
They offer their unique gifts and talents eagerly. And when things don"t change as they sometimes will, they
refuse to let environment hijack their self-esteem, passion or dreams.
B. her boss criticized her for what she had done
C. she was not satisfied with her job at all
D. her work was difficult and her boss was cruel
B. the woman is like the dog on the nail
C. it is tied firmly to a nail by its owner
D. it should be injured badly enough
B. slight
C. serious
D. hard
B. are not willing to go to work
C. need more unique gifts and talents
D. are likely to change with the situation
locusts (蝗虫) that are traveling across the continent eating everything in their path. And now in the battle to
stop this disaster, a radio station in Senegal, West Africa, is offering listeners 50 kilograms of rice if they can
catch and kill 50 kilograms of locusts. "We think this idea will get more people to take part in the war on the
locusts," said Abdoulaye Ba, from Sud-Fm, a radio station in one of Senegal"s worst affected area .
This is West Africa"s biggest locust disaster in 15 years, and it is moving east, causing huge damage to
crops. As they move they produce young and increase their number and will soon threaten (威胁) Sudan in the
northeast of Africa. Some say it could reach Asia. Experts say the harmful effect on crops in areas already
suf-fering from food shortage and war could cause many people to go hungry. Governments in the areas are
not well equipped to fight the pest.
Although leaders of 12 countries have agreed on a plan, it is not expected to be enough.
"We are now treating 6,000 hectares (公顷) per day with pesticide (***虫剂 ), but we need to treat 20,000
hectares per day in order to have any hope of controlling this disaster," said Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah,
director of locust control in Mauritania.
Requests are being made for international aid, which is the only way to limit the disaster, the UN"s Food
and Agricul-ture Organization warned.
B. suggested the great damage that locusts can cause
C. warned that locusts would sweep the continent like rain clouds
D. both A and B
B. the difficulty in controlling locusts
C. how locusts caused great damage to West Africa
D. a struggle to fight against a disaster brought by locusts in West Africa
B. is (was)out of control
C. affected only the warning areas
D. can not be stopped unless twice as much pesticide is provided for the affected areas
B. Senegal is to the southwest of Sudan.
C. The locusts can cause such damage mainly because it has no natural enemy in West Africa.
D. 12 countries affected by locusts have united but still lack pesticide.
daughter"s wedding. We had to 1 a great climbing plant that had grown across a roof beam (房梁), so that
we could repair the roof and 2 the walls.
When my husband was taking the plant away, he found a 3 of a blackbird. He then 4 something 5
among that mass of earth and straw of the nest. He broke the earth 6 it into pieces with his finger tips and,
to his 7 , saw glittering gold. It was a child"s bracelet (手镯). He ran into the house to 8 me.
"You won"t believe that the 9 blackbirds not only steal the best fruit we plant to feed on," he said,"but
they also want their children to 10 in a cradle (摇篮) of gold!" When my daughter 11 on the eve of the
12 ,we told her about this 13 occurrence (事件).
"Don"t you remember, Mother?" she said with a loud 14 ."When I was eight, you gave me a bracelet that I 15 a few days later while out playing in the yard? It was this one!"
As the bracelet no longer 16 its owner and was dirty, I decided to take it into my safekeeping.
In December of the following year, the young couple"s baby son was baptized (受洗礼). Among the 17
the newborn baby received, I placed his mother"s bracelet, now shining like 18 . I hope that if my grandson
19 loses it, one of the 20 that live in my backyard is somewhere nearby.
( )1. A. remove ( )2. A. build ( )3. A. nest ( )4. A. moved ( )5. A. nice ( )6. A. over ( )7. A. horror ( )8. A. ask ( )9. A. working ( )10. A. lie ( )11. A. came up ( )12. A. party ( )13. A. important ( )14. A. cry ( )15. A. hid ( )16. A. fitted ( )17. A. jewels ( )18. A. attractive ( )19. A. almost ( )20. A. blackbirds | B. cover B. paint B. baby B. got B. colorful B. through B. surprise B. shock B. cheating B. sing B. came over B. Christmas B. strange B. sigh B. threw B. satisfied B. toys B. new B. just B. grandchildren | C. grow C. rescue C. body C. picked C. shiny C. above C. delight C. show C. dreaming C. listen C. came across C. birthday C. terrible C. laugh C. lost C. matched C. clothes C. modern C. even C. neighbors | D. water D. print D. egg D. noticed D. special D. around D. disappointment D. give D. thieving D. wait D. came by D. wedding D. frightening D. sound D. broke D. interested D. presents D. golden D. ever D. mice | |||||||||||||||||||
完形填空。 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Where is the bus? Why is it always late?" I asked myself. I was going to be late, 1 the manager wasn"t going to be pleased."Thank God, here it is!" The bus came round the corner and I got on. Ten minutes later I was walking into the 2 where I work.."Twenty-five past nine. I 3 the manager doesn"t notice." But I was not 4 . "Smith!" shouted the manager."Late again. What"s your 5 this time?" "I am afraid the bus was late, Mr. Brown."" 6 up earlier tomorrow! Anyway, go to your place at the counter (柜台). We"ll be opening in a few minutes." My first customer was a pretty girl wearing a red dress. 7 her was a young man of about 25. He seemed very 8 , and every few seconds he looked towards the main entrance. The girl drew (提取) some money and 9 about opening an account. I gave her necessary 10 and she went out. 11 , I noticed a tall man by the door, carrying something 12 with brown paper. Turning to my next customer, I was frightened to see a gun sticking out of his coat. The next moment a loud noise 13 my ears. Everything went black. I was falling… It seemed to be a long time 14 I opened my eyes and I found myself in bed! 15 shaking from the memory of this terrible dream, I got dressed and ran out of the house. 16 , the bus wasn"t on time, and I got to the bank at 9:25. "Smith!" the manager cried out in a voice like thunder." 17 of your excuses! Start work at once!" To my 18 , the first customer was a girl 19 a red dress and behind her stood a man carrying something wrapped n brown paper. The 20 ! Sometimes life is full of coincidences (巧合)! | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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