People with disabilities make up a large part of the population. It is estimated that over 35 million Americans have physical, mental, or other disabilities. About half of these disabilities are “developmental", i.e., they occur before the individual's twenty-second birthday, often from genetic conditions, and are severe enough to affect three or more areas of development, such as mobility, communication, employment, etc. Most other disabilities are considered “adventitious", i.e., accidental or caused by outside forces.

Prior to the 20th century, only a small percentage of people with disabilities survived for long. Medical treatment for these disabilities was unavailable. Advancements in medicine and social services have created a climate in which people with disabilities can expect to have such basic needs as food, shelter, and medical treatment. Unfortunately, these basics are often not available. Civil liberties such as the right to vote, marry, get an education, and gain employment have historically been denied on the basis of disability.

In recent decades, the disability rights movement has been organized to fight against these infringements（違反；侵犯）of civil rights. Congress responded by passing major legislation recognizing people with disabilities as a protected class under civil rights statutes.

Still today, people with disabilities must fight to live their lives independently. It is estimated that more than half of qualified Americans with disabilities are unemployed, and a majority of those who do work are underemployed. About two-thirds live at or below the official poverty level.

Significant barriers, especially in transportation and public awareness, prevent disabled people from taking part in society. For example, while no longer prohibited by law from marrying, a person with no access to transportation is effectively excluded from community and social activities which might lead to the development of long-term relationships.

Only when public attitudes advance as far as laws have will disabled people be fully able to take their rightful place in society.

 

36. A “developmental" disability ______.

A. develops very slowly over time

B. is caused by forces

C. occurs in youth and affects development

D. is getting more and more severe

37．Most disabled people used to die early because ______.

A. disabilities destroyed major bodily functions

B. they were not very well looked after

C. medical techniques were not available

D. they were too poor to get proper treatment

38. In the author's opinion, to enable the disabled people to take their rightful place in society, ______.

A．more laws should be passed

B．public attitudes should be changed

C．government should provide more aids

D．more public facilities should be set up

39. Which of the following cannot be inferred（推斷）from the passage ?

A．Many disabled people may remain single for their whole life.

B．The public tends to look down upon the disabled people.

C．The disabled people feel inferior to those surrounding them.

D．  Discriminatory laws prevent the disabled from mixing with others.

40. The best title for this passage might be ______.

A．Handicaps（不利條件；障礙；）of People with Disabilities

B．The physical difficulties of the Disabled

C．The Causes for Disabilities

D．Medical Treatments for Disabilities

 

For the last couple of weeks , I had been stuck in front of my computer working on a project that was very important to me . My every waking hour was consumed by the project and although I imagined that I would feel happy after completing parts of the project, I was confused to find that instead , I was feeling rather depressed . I tried a range of methods to help cheer myself up. I had a relaxing bath, cooked a delicious meal to enjoy with my family and even watched a lighthearted movie,but to no avail. It was only when I turned to meditation(沉思) for a solution that the answer came to me : turn to nature!

The very next day , I grabbed my camera and a bottle of water and set off to spend a few hours walking in a nature reserve , even though it was pouring with rain . Within a couple of minutes I felt alive again.To be honest . I felt like a young school girl again and had to stop myself from hopping along the path singing , “I’m singing in the rain.”a song I used to sing when I was a child . I think as adults we often try too hard to control our inner children and as a result we restrain(限制)our own spirits , which only leads to depression and stress.

Interestingly,it has been shown that people who spend 40 minutes walking  in a nature reserve have a drop in their blood pressure levels. But this does not happen when they spend a similar amount of time walking in a busy city centre .

If you feel a little low in spirit and know that you have spent too much time indoors , relax completely , remove your shoes and let your inner child come out and play.

1.The author felt depressed because she          .

A.couldn’t consume her waking hour

B.had not seen a film for a long time.

C.had not finished her work on time

D.had worked on a hard job for too long

2.The author walked in a nature reserve in the rain in order to       .

A.take photos           B.find a solution to the project

C.hop along the path    D.cheer herself up

3.The underlined part“to no avail” in Paragraph 1 probably means“           ”.

A.unsuccessful      B.unrelated     C.uninteresting     D.unexpected

4.In the author’s opinion,      .

A.a bath can make people relaxed

B.depression is usually caused by hard work

C.walking in a busy city centre harms people’s health

D.adults should express their inner feelings freely

5.The last paragraph mainly serves as a(n)       .

A.explanation           B.suggestion        C.introduction          D.reminder

 

Facebook means never having to say goodbye. The social media web site has earned a reputation for reconnecting old friends. Last week, a guy whom I hadn't seen since my bachelor party five years ago sent me a friend request. I accepted and waited for him to send me a greeting of some kind. He had sought me out, after all.

I learned from his profile that he was in a relationship and had a son. However, I'm pretty sure we won’t ever write wall-to-wall, let alone e-mail each other. But he'll remain a friend of online until one of us makes a point of removing the other from his official list.

My pool of friends consists of family members, college buddies, co-workers from past and present, and friends of friends. There are 35 in all. If I spent some time uploading old e-mail addresses, I'm confident that I could increase my friend count actually.

A person could make a mission out of reconnecting with childhood friends, former classmates, distant cousins, and those one would like to get to know better. And some people can even handle hundreds of on-screen relationships, keeping up with the daily happenings of their small army of companions. After all, there are worse fates than having too many friends.

Thanks to e-mail, the inability to schedule face-to-face meetings no longer means a friendship must come to a close. But even with e-mail, people will lose touch if one or both parties stop writing back. That's normal. People move from school to school, job to job, city to city. You never have to feel guilty for breaking away.

Every day, the masterminds of Web 2. 0 find new ways of making human communication easier. However, convenience can be a crutch. Some things shouldn't be simplified. When it comes to friendship, there can be no shortcuts.

1.According to Paragraph l, the web site is famous because _______.

  A. it has an interesting name of “Facebook”

  B. it helps people get in touch with old friends

  C. it can send people a greeting of some kind

  D. it reminds people of events in the past

2.From the second paragraph we can learn that the writer _______.

  A. would write to the friend quite often

  B. asked the friend to e-mail him

  C. did get some information about the friend

  D. would keep in touch with the friend forever

3. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

  A. There are 35 people in the author's list of friends right now.

  B. The author communicates with all the 35 friends by e-mails.

  C. The list of 35 friends doesn't include the old e-mail addresses.

  D. It is not difficult for the author to increase his friend count.

4.What does the author think of the convenience of communicating on line?

  A. The technology could not keep true friendship forever.

  B. The social web site of Facebook means nothing at all.

  C. There will be no ways of making real friends on line.

  D. People will not lose friends with the help of the Facebook.

 

 

There is that great idea that in an information and knowledge based economy, the most important thing for companies is attracting and holding outstanding talented guys. Obviously I will not say that is not important, but in my opinion a successful and groundbreaking company cannot be built just from the collection of high talented people, as a great sports team can't be constructed only by the collection of great players.

It is more important to build teams of people that achieve the goals according to the company's organizational vision. It is necessary to create organizations where everybody (with outstanding talent or not) can develop their best personal capabilities and that these capacities are addressed to achieve the corporate goals and mission. The company efforts must be addressed to design an organizational system that produces and uses talent from everyone in the company.

Trying to get the best from our people through corporate team building policies, establishing a concrete corporate culture and values, making our company a place where people want to work because it is a good place to stay and develop their capacities, is the best way to compete in the knowledge economy. That will keep us out of the obligation to constantly seek for the "best players" and entering in the retribution auctions(拍賣).

We have to take into account that, nowadays, the real talented and creative people, like to work or engage themselves in projects where they can develop their capacities, they can be involved in the organizational goals and vision, and where they are treated with respect and dignity. Definitively, they want to be happy doing their jobs. And we have to build organizations where they can find that.

1.

The underlined word that in Paragraph 1 refers to ________.

  A. information and knowledge                       B. the great idea

  C. the collection of talented people              D. attracting and holding talented people

2.

In the author’s opinion, a good company should consist of ________.

  A. only outstanding people                                B. both talented and common people

  C. only common people                                       D. more talented people than common people

3.

The most important thing a successful company should do is ________.

  A. constantly seek for talented people

  B. employ people with different abilities

  C. make the company a place where employees are glad to devote themselves to work

  D. make the company a place where employees can get the best pay and great respect

4.

According to Paragraph 3, the company can get the best from its employees in the following ways EXCEPT ________.

  A. making corporate team building rules            

B. forming corporate culture and values

  C. encouraging them to develop their abilities  

D. competing in the knowledge economy

5.

 How is the text organized?

(1)—Paragraph 1     (2)—Paragraph 2              (3)—Paragraph 3              (4)—Paragraph 4

    A. (1)→(2)→(3)→(4)                                                 B. (1)(2)→(3)(4)

          ↗(2)                               (1)↘

 

    C. (1)→(3)                                                                       D.  (2)→(4)

          ↘(4)                               (3)↗

 

　"I’ve changed my mind. I wanted to have a telescope, but now I want my dad back." Lucien Lawence’s letter to Father Christmas written after his father had been knifed to death outside his school gate, must have touched every heart. Lucien went on to say that without his father he couldn’t see the stars in the sky. When those whom we love depart from us, we cannot see the stars for a while.

　　But Lucien, the stars are still there, and one day, when you are older and your tears have gone, you will see them again. And, in a strange way, I expect that you will find your father is there too, in your mind and in your heart. I find that my parents, long dead now, still figure in many of my dreams and that I think of them perhaps more than I ever did when they were alive. I still live to please them and I’m still surprised by their reactions. I remember that when I became a professor, I was so proud, or rather so pleased with myself, that I couldn’t wait to cable my parents. The reply was a long time in coming, but when it did, all mother said was, "I hope this means that now you will have more time for the children.” I haven’t forgotten. The values of my parents still live on.

　　It makes me pause and think about how I will live on in the hearts and minds of my children and of those for whom I care. Would I have been as ready as Philip Lawrence have been to face the aggressors (挑釁者),and to lay down my life for those in my care? How many people would want me back for Christmas? It’s a serious thought, one to give me pause.

　　I pray silently, sometimes, in the dead of night, that ancient cry of a poet "Deliver my soul from the sword, and my darling from the power of the dog." Yet I know the death comes to us all, and sometimes comes suddenly. We must therefore plan to live forever, but live as if we will die tomor-row. We live on, in the lives of those we loved, and therefore we ought to have a care for what they will remember and what they will treasure. If more parents knew this in their hearts to be true, there might be fewer knives on our streets today.

　　16. according to the whole text we can see that the first paragraph ________.

　　A. puts forward the subject of the text

　　B. shows the author’s pity on the kid

　　C. acts as an introduction to the discussion

　　D. makes a clear statement of the author’s views

　　17. In the second paragraph the author mainly wants to explain to us ________.

　　A. how much he misses his parents now

　　B. why his parents often appear in his dreams

　　C. when Lucien will get over all his sadness

　　D. how proud he was when he succeeded in life

　　18. What feeling did the author’s mother express in her reply?

　　A. Proud.          B. Happy.          C. Disappointed.       D. Worried.

　　19. In the author’s opinion, the value of a person’s life is ________.

　　A. to leave behind a precious memory to the people related

　　B. to have a high sense of duty to the whole society

　　C. to care what others will remember and treasure

　　D. to share happiness and sadness with his family

　　20. What does the writer mean by the sentence taken from an old poem?

　　A. Call on criminals and murderers to lay down their guns.

　　B. Advise parents stay with their children safely at home.

　　C. Spend every day meaningfully in memory of the death.

　　D. Try to keep violence and murder far away from society.