outdoors or whether the car in front of you is going faster than the speed limit?
If you get into such arguments, try to think about the story about the six blind men and the elephant.
The first blind man who felt the elephant"s trunk said it was like a snake. The second who felt the elephant"s
side said it was like a wall, while the third said it was like a spear as he touched the animal"s tusk. The fourth,
who got hold of the elephant"s tail insisted that it was like a rope. The fifth man said it looked like a tree as he
put his arms around one of the elephant"s legs. The sixth, who was tall and got hold of the elephant"s ears,
said it was like a huge fan.
Each man"s idea of the animal came from his own experience. So if someone disagrees with you about a
"simple fact", it"s often because his experience in the matter is different from yours.
To see how hard it is for even one person to make up his mind about a "simple fact", try this simple
experiment. Get three large bowls. Put ice water in one. Put hot water in the second. Put lukewarm water in
the third. Now put your left hand in the ice water. Put your right hand in the hot water. After thirty seconds,
put both hands in the lukewarm water. Your right hand will tell you the water is cold. Your left hand will tell
you it"s hot!
B. The fact that people have different experience in the same simple fact.
C. The fact that people often disagree with one another.
D. The fact that it"s hard to make up one"s mind about simple facts.
B. Above 60℃
C. Around 25℃
D. Below 0℃
B. Galileo"s theory of falling objects
C. Einstein"s theory of relativity
D. Marx"s On Capital
B. people often agree about simple facts
C. it"s hard for a person to make up his mind about a simple fact
D. don"t care too much about simple facts
More than half of its 100,000 residents rely on aid from the government. Only 50% of students at
Bushwick High School graduate in four years.
Some people might say, "We should help these poor kids who have so many challenges." But Malaak
Compton-Rock looks at the teens in Bushwick and says, "Go to help kids who have even bigger challenges
than you do." She believes that once young people see the power they have to make things better, they
can handle their own problems more easily. So her service group, the Angel Rock Project, took 30 Bushwick
kids to Soweto, in South Africa, to help poor families there. Soweto is a township outside the city of
Johannesburg. The effort, called Journey for Change, aims to show that any kid can change the world.
"Kids in Bushwick face pressure to drop out of school or become involved in gangs and drugs." Says
Compton-Rock. "We want them to live a life of purpose and service."
In Soweto, many parents have died of AIDS, a deadly disease. When that happens, a grandparent or a
child must lead the family. The Bushwick volunteers helped such families. They tended vegetable gardens,
cared for babies and bought groceries.
"The saddest thing was when we visited an orphanage (孤儿院) and I helped a little boy who had been
abandoned because he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS," says Queen Clyde, 12. "It"s been good to be
on this trip. But what"s also important is what we do when it"s finished. That"s what counts." " I never
appreciated what I had until I saw some people who had nothing," says Sadara Lewis, 12 "It"s really changed
my attitude. I want to make a difference."
The trip was two weeks long. But the kids, aged 12 to 15, will spend all year speaking about their
experience, fund-raising and more.
B. Bushwick still needs more care from the government.
C. It is children who suffer most in New York City.
D. Children in Bushwick are living in a bad situation.
B. are living much better than people in Africa
C. can learn to deal with their own problems by helping others
D. should be kept out of schools
B. receive no care from the government
C. are much more independent
D. are able to lead the family
B. saying and doing are two things
C. one stone kills two birds
D. a friend in need is a friend indeed
B. the trip to Soweto will have a long influence in spite of its short time
C. most children are suffering from AIDS in Soweto
D. kids with HIV will be abandoned in Soweto
walls to 2 influence from 3 town.
In Pressure, everyone struggled to be the very best. When women 4 birth, they would compete to have
the baby with the 5 cry. There were violent competitions in every aspect of life. Because 6 was the index
(指数) of success, people were always 7 making money, with no time for relaxation.
8 , over in Pleasure, the motto was "As long as you like it, do it." People 9 without pressure and could
do 10 they liked. Children played computer games day and night. At school, teachers didn"t care 11 the
students showed up or not. Workers might sit around the office 12 sipping coffee and doing nothing. 13 the
lack of regulations, nobody worried about losing their jobs. No one had slightest thought of moving 14 , either
for themselves or for the town. The computer they used were 15 models from Pressure.
Some of the young were addicted to 16 because of the emptiness of their lives. Then, people in the two
towns began asking themselves, "What is life 17 ?" But, just before life in the two towns completely failed, there
came a saint-Mr. Reason. He went from door to door, 18 with people and giving advice. People in Pressure
learnt to be content with what they had, while people in Pleasure began to make plans. They 19 walls between
them and built a road to connect the two. The town people 20 to realize the truth-There is no space between
Pressure and Pleasure if people don"t go to extremes.
( )1. A. anything ( )2. A. keep out ( )3. A. another ( )4. A. gave ( )5. A. loud ( )6. A. health ( )7. A. busy ( )8. A. Meanwhile ( )9. A. got up ( )10. A. nothing ( )11. A. what ( )12. A. all way ( )13. A. Thanks to ( )14. A. backward ( )15. A. new ( )16. A. work ( )17. A. for ( )18. A. talked ( )19. A. pulled down ( )20. A. went | B. nothing B. look out B. any B. took B. louder B. healthy B. lazy B. At that time B. grew up B. something B. who B. all night B. Because B. forward B. old B. money B. at B. to talk B. put down B. returned | C. everything C. work out C. other C. offered C. loudest C. wealth C. easy C. At one time C. set up C. anything C. where C. all way long C. As a result C. upward C. right C. drugs C. in C. talks C. went down C. happened | D. something D. give out D. the other D. brought D. loudly D. wealthy D. hard D. Once in a while D. brought up D. everything D. whether D. all day long D. According to D. downward D. advanced D. books D. to D. talking D. wrote down D. came | ||||||||||||||||||||
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