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Passage
One
The
greatest results in life are usually attained by simple
means, and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common
life of every day, with its cares, necessities, and duties,
affords ample opportunity for acquiring experience of the
best kind; and its most beaten paths provide the true worker
with abundant scope for effort and room for self-improvement.
The road of human welfare lies along the old highway of
steadfast well-doing; and they who are the most persistent,
and work in the truest spirit, will usually be the most
successful.
Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness;
but fortune is not so blind as men are. Those who look into
practical life will find that fortune is usually on the
side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the
side of the best navigators. In the pursuit of even the
highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities
are found the most useful—such as common sense, attention,
application, and perseverance.
Genius may not be necessary, though even
genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of these
ordinary qualities. The very greatest men have been among
the least believers in the power of genius, and as worldly
wise and persevering as successful men of the commoner sort.
Some have even defined genius to be only common sense intensified.
A distinguished teacher and president of a college spoke
of it as the power of making efforts. John Foster held it
to be the power of lighting one's own fire. Buffon said
of genius, "it is patience."
Newton's was unquestionably a mind of the
very highest order, and yet, when asked by what means he
had worked out his extraordinary discoveries, he modestly
answered, "By always thinking unto them." At another time
he thus expressed his method of study: "I keep the subject
continually before me, and wait till the first dawnings
open slowly by little and little into a full and clear light."
It was in Newton's case, as in every other, only by diligent
application and perseverance that his great reputation was
achieved. Even his recreation consisted in change of study,
laying down one subject to take up another. To Dr. Bentley
he said: "If I have done the public any service, it is due
to nothing but industry and patient thought."
( 388 words )
1. According
to the author, the most important qualities for success are
__________.
( C
)
(a) ample opportunities for experiences of daily life
(b) effort and room for self-improvement
(c) persistence and good work
(d) daily cares, necessities and duties
2. The second paragraph mainly tells us that __________.(
C
)
(a) fortune is blind
(b) men are blind
(c) fortune helps the industrious
(d) common qualities make people successful
3. Genius is understood by great men as all
the following except __________. (
A
)
(a) luck
(b) the power of making efforts
(c) the power of lighting one's own fire
(d) patience
4. Newton
thought that he had made discoveries by ___________.
(
C
)
(a) waiting patiently
(b) constant thinking
(c) industry and patient thought
(d) change of study
5. The
passage discusses ___________. ( D
)
(a) the importance of thinking
(b) the existence of genius
(c) the value of success
(d) the significance of perseverance
TOP
Passage
Two
"Dear Abby". With these two words, millions of letters have
begun their outpourings of anxiety and concern, seeking
an answer to emotional or family problems. The letters are
addressed to Abigail Van Buren, one of the most influential
sources of social advice in the United States. The newspaper
advice column "Dear Abby" appears in more than 1 000 newspapers,
and over the years has tried to give answers to people seeking
help with such topics as marriage, troublesome children,
sex, work, religion, problems with drugs and so on.
There is another "agony aunt" advice columnist
in the United States who is equally popular and successful.
Her name is Ann Landers, and she is regarded as the most
widely syndicated newspaper columnist in the world. The
Ann Landers column has an estimated readership of 90 million,
and appears in more than 1 200 newspapers. A World Almanac
Poll once found that the Chicago-based advice columnist
was the most influential woman in the United States.
Are these two popular and powerful advice
columnists in competition? The ironic and fascinating fact
behind their work is that they are twin sisters. "Dear Abby"
or Abigail Van Buren is in fact Pauline Esther Friedman.
Ann Landers is her twin sister, Esther "Eppie" Friedman.
They were born in Sioux City, Iowa on July
4, American Independence Day, in 1918. In 1955, Esther "Eppie"
Friedman took over the Ann Landers advice column in the
Chicago-Sun newspaper, and kept the columnist's name.
A year later in San Francisco, and inspired
by Eppie's example, her twin sister Pauline approached the
editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and said she felt
she could do a better job than the existing advice columnist.
The editor said to writer some sample columns and he would
look at them. The rest is history.
While "Dear Abby" often contains sharper
and wittier ripostes to readers, both sisters support basic
family values and often refer their readers to psychiatrists,
doctors, psychologists or clergymen for further help.
Pauline Friedman took the name Abigail from
the Christian Bible Old Testament. Abigail was a prophet
in the Book of Samuel. It was said of her, "Blessed are
thou, and blessed is thy advice, O Abigail." "Van Buren"
comes from the eighth president of the United States, Martin
Van Buren. His name was selected because of its aristocratic,
old family ring. Pauline Friedman married husband Morton
Phillips in 1939 and lives in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles,
where she is a wife, mother and grandmother.
(413 words)
6. Both Abigail Van
Buren and Ann Landers are _________. (
B
)
(a) newspaper reporters
(b) newspaper advice columnists
(c) advice seekers regarding family problems
(d) Chicago-based writers
7. According
to the passage, Abigail Van Buren and Ann Landers ___________.
(
B
)
(a) compete with each other fiercely
(b) were born on the same day
(c) worked for the same newspapers
(d) started as advice columnists the same year
8. Which
of the following is Not true? (
D
)
(a) Abby is Abigail Van Buren.
(b) Abigail Van Buren is Pauline Esther Friedman.
(c) Esther "Eppie" Friedman is Ann Landers.
(d) Ann Landers works for the Chicago-Sun newspaper.
9. Both
Ann and Abby support family values that are ___________.
(
A
)
(a) traditional
(b) radical
(c) conventional
(d) conservative
10.The name Abigail Van Buren ___________. (
D
)
(a) is from a character in the Bible
(b) is after a U.S. president
(c) is that of a prophet
(d) makes use of a Biblical story and a historical personage
TOP
Passage
Three
Yhudi Menuhin, who died in Berlin on March 12, 1999, at the
age of 82, was a child prodigy who fulfilled his promise
to become one of the world's foremost violinists before
extending his range to teaching and conducting.
The gently spoken U.S.-born virtuoso became
as renowned for his devotion to humane causes as for his
mastery of the violin.
The spotlight has been on him since his
debut at seven in 1924. By the time he was 13, he had performed
in Paris, London and New York. In Berlin, his performance
prompted physicist Albert Einstein to exclaim, "Now I know
there is a God in Heaven."
Reportedly the world's highest paid musician
in the 1930s, his striving for perfection made him a legend. Menuhin said the violin made its own demands,
"Almost like a pagan goddess, exacting a certain tribute."
When he was 38, one New York newspaper wrote,
"The freshness and unique purity of his playing is
exhilarating. No other violinist has such speaking eloquence
in the tone alone."
He gave up public violin performances in
his 70s. His hearing was a little impaired by then and he
had taken on many more interests. But his conducting was
still full of energy and his travel schedule grueling.
"I feel that what I've learned in music
I can apply to a wide repertoire, which is fun because I
am exploring new terrain," he said in an interview at the
time of his 80th birthday.
"But I feel no desire
now to spend hours working away again at something which I
myself in the past and other people can play far better than
I can now. I don't see the point."
A British citizen since 1985 and a life
peer since 1993—Baron Menuhin of Stoke d'Abernon in the
County of Surrey—he had a school in England and an academy
in Switzerland for young musicians, whom he often conducts.
He has also helped found various musical
festivals, held the Nehru Peace Prize and was a goodwill
ambassador for UNESCO.
While pursuing interests such as the environment,
organic farming, alternative medicine, education and the
plight of gypsies, he sticks to a long-standing healthy
diet and yoga.
"I don't squander my energies. Keep myself
in fairly good trim. I stand on my head every morning. Conducting
is a wonderful exercise because it uses every faculty,"
he says.
(395 words)
11. Menuhin
began his career as _________. (
B
)
(a) a child prodigy
(b) a violinist
(c) a teacher
(d) a conductor
12. The public
was first attracted to Menuhin when he _________.
(
A
)
(a) gave his first musical performance
(b) was 13 years old
(c) was praised by Einstein
(d) became the highest paid musician
13. In his 70s, Menuhin
___________.(
B
)
(a) continued to give violin performances in public
(b) was still busy travelling around
(c) concentrated on conducting
(d) had impaired his hearing
14. Which of the following
is Not mentioned in the passage?(
D
)
(a) Menuhin became a British subject in 1980s.
(b) Menuhin was made a baron in 1990s.
(c) Menuhin ran some schools for young musicians.
(d) Menuhin tried to succeed in every field and all the time.
15.
The
above passage discusses
___________. ( D
)
(a) how Menuhin worked hard to succeed
(b) the legend of Menuhin
(c) Menuhin as a musician
(d) Menuhin as a successful violinist and a statesman
TOP
测验结果：15 题中 共答对题，
答错题， 还有题未答。
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