Rome had the Forum . London has Speaker's Corner. Now always-on-the-go New Yorkers have Liz and Bill. Liz and Bill, two college graduates in their early 20s, have spent a whole year trying to have thousands of people talk to them in subway stations and on busy street corners. And just talk. Using a 2-foot-tall sign that says, " Talk to Me," they attract conversationalists, who one evening included a mental patient, and men in business suits. They don't collect money. They don't push religion . So what's the point? " To see what happens," said Liz. " We simply enjoy life with open talk." Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, they decided to walk from New York City to Washington, a 270-mile trip. They found they loved talking to people along the way and wanted to continue talking with strangers after their return. " It started as a crazy idea." Liz said. " We were so curious about all the strangers walking by with their life stories. People will talk to us about anything: their job, their clothes, their childhood experiences, anything." Denise wanted to talk about an exam she was about to take. She had stopped by for the second time in two days, to let the two listeners know how it went. Marcia had led her husband to a serious disease. "That was very heavy on my mind." Marcia said. " To be able to talk about it to total strangers was very good," she explained. To celebrate a year of talking, the two held a get-together in a city park for all the people they had met over the past year. A few hundred people appeared, as well as some television cameramen and reporters. They may plan more parties or try to attract more people to join their informal talks. Some publishers have expressed interest in a book, something the two say they'll consider before making a decision. How do they like the idea of writing a book? A) They have decided to wait a year or two. B) They will think about it carefully C) They agreed immediately D) They find it hard to do that.
B
We live in a very competitive world. Everybody seems to be competing with someone at some level. Each week we spend hours playing or watching others compete in sporting activities all over the world. We cannot help being impressed by the level of excellence that these people achieve. In sport and business, competition encourages excellence in performance. Where there is no competition, improvement in performance is less likely. Some level of competition is a have-to in all aspects of life. The following story makes this point. As two friends are hiking in the forest they come across a huge, ferocious and obviously hungry bear. Its next meal has just come into sight, and they are it! The first friend calculates that the bear will catch them in 27.3 seconds. At that point, she panics, realizing there is no escape. She faces her friend, with the fear of death in her eyes. To her amazement, she observes that her friend is not scared at all. On the contrary, her friend is quickly but calmly taking off her hiking boots and putting on running shoes. "What do you think you're doing?" the first hiker says to her companion. "You'll never be able to run faster than that bear". "That's true," says the companion, "but all I have to do is escape, faster than you." We all compete when the motivation is strong enough. However, competition is not the real purpose of life. Fulfilling the measure of our creation can only be achieved individually. Most of time, we are not in competition with any other person, so we do not have to compare ourselves with others. There is only one person that can fulfill our role and that is us. This means that others cannot beat us to the finish line because there is no race. This is not to say that others do not have a similar role to us, but it is never the same. This is important to understand if we are going to enjoy life. Every human being is unique and cannot be cloned. In this, I am not referring to the body, only to the spirit, soul, or the essence of a person. Why is the story of two friends told in the passage? A) To advise friends to be loyal even in competition. B) To expose the weak side of friendship when tested. C) To support the author's own argument on competition. D) To persuade people to beat others, even friends.
C
Q: Some years ago, Wang Baoqiang was a nobody to most Chinese people. However, he is now a household film star in China. Wang is the youngest child of a poor family in Hebei Province. Dreaming of becoming an actor, he left home at the age of 8 to study kung fu at Shaolin Temple, since kung-fu actors seemed to appear most often on the big screen. At 14, he moved to Beijing for his acting career for the first time, with little money in his pocket. He worked at a construction site for 20 to 25 yuan per day, and spent his free time standing in front of the Beijing Film Studio, eager to be chosen as temporary actors. This was the hardest time for the boy. His opportunity finally came one day after he went for a role in the movie "Blind Shaft" . He was chosen to play a young coal miner. The movie won him three prizes in Thailand, France and Taiwan. But his success didn't make any difference to his life. That year, he went home for the Spring Festival. He gave his family his earnings from the movie, around $ 250 and then returned to Beijing with 500 yuan, the same amount he had when he first came to the city. His life was as simple as before. Thanks to his natural performance in "Blind Shaft", he was invited by the famous director Feng Xiaogang to act in the film "A World Without Thieves" in 2004, which made him famous immediately. People called him "Shagen", the name of his character in the movie. Wang's work, "Soldiers Sortie" has made him the most popular actor on the Chinese mainland. For the actor, it's a dream coming true. "Dreams come true. I think my life is exactly a course of pursuing dreams. No matter how tough one thing is,I can make it as long as I put great effort into it. "he said. What would be the best title for this passage? A) The Movies about Wang Baoqiang B) Pursuing Dreams C) How to Become Famous D) Overnight Well-known
A: B
The Internet is now a central part of everyday life. The number of Internet hours in the West is increasing each month, but online addiction is still not attracting a great deal of attention. Perhaps one reason Internet addiction has not _ in the West is that there are too many other vices available. In a society ly open to sex, gambling, alcohol and drugs, computer games are not always appealing to young people. In fact, there is almost a shame attached to playing online games. Many consider it an "uncool" thing to do. They would rather spend their free time meeting friends. But this is not to say that people don't do it. One website, wowdetox.com, still offers support to recovering "addicts". One user posted on the website: "I would play all night and spend all day sleeping. I just quit a month ago. Best decision ever." This is just one example from around 1,660 pages of confessions . Still, computer game addiction is not officially recognized in the West. Just last years, the American Medical Association refused calls to have computer game addiction classified as a disease, saying that, "Nothing suggests it is a complex disease similar to alcoholism." Online gaming is more personal in the West. It is rare for people to visit Internet cafes or play with friends at home. After all, the majority of households have their own fast Internet connection. This removes the social joy with friends. And this choice of playing alone is not very appealing to many people. We can learn from this passage that_. A) surfing the Internet is not so attractive in the west B) many other things interest western people C) the Internet is a central part of everyday life D) online games are getting more attractive in the west
A