上海市奉贤区新世纪2018-2019学年高一下学期英语期末考...

    Arturo Toscanini, who conducted the first public performance of many world-famous operas (such as Othello and La Boheme), (regard) as the greatest conductor of the first part of the twentieth century.

    Toscanini (bear) in Italy on March 25, 1867. He entered a music school he was nine and graduated in 1885 the highest honours in cello and composition.

    was most special about Toscanini was that he did his job without the help of a score. (read) through a score, he recall every note many years later. However, the fact he had a marvellous memory alone did not make him a great conductor. It was his energy, strict attitude towards performance, and loyalty to the composer's intention that made him outstanding

    PISA is a two-hour test that compares the performance of 15-year-olds. In the latest test, the countries with the best readers were South Korea and Finland. But students in Shanghai. China, scored the highest of all in reading, mathematics and science. The next results were in Hong Kong. Singapore, Canada, New Zealand and Japan. In all, around half a million students in more than 70 took the test last year. The test has been given every three years since 2000. Last year was the first time Shanghai took part.

    Mr. ANDREAS SCHLEICHER says "Asian countries  education more than other countries. They have given education a. Every child, every teacher, every parent knows that education is the to success." He says other education systems can learn from Shanghai. For example, he says education spending in the province has increased, including teacher pay and training. And administrators are putting teachers into challenging classroom situations to make them at their jobs. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says that the results  an urgent need for Americans to do more to remain  in the world economy. He points out that the United States has fallen from first to ninth place in college graduation rates because of  by other countries.

    Mr Schloichor says international testing experts have investigated and confirmed（证实）the Shanghai scores. He says the PISA results are not representative of all of China. But he also says they dispute the common belief that Chinese educationon repetition and memorization.

    Computer hackers have now got their hands on mobile phones. "A phone virus programme can 1 your phone do things you have no control over", computer security experts 2. It might 3 the White house or the police. or forward your personal address book to a marketing company. Or it could simply cat into the phone's operating software, turning it  4and erasing your personal information. Similar viruses have already made mobile phone owners 5in Japan and Europe. Ari Hypponcn, chief technical officer of a computer security company in Finland, said a virus "can get your 6 and send them elsewhere. And it can record your password". Mobiles are now able to surf the Net, send emails and 7 software. So they are an easy target for the same hackers who have sent viruses to computers over the past decade.

    "It's technically 8 now. "said Stephen Trilling. director of research at anti -virus software maker Symantec Corp based in the US. "If the phone is connected to the 9, it can be used to transmit threats and attack targets, just as any computer can."

    In Japan, if you opened a certain email message on your mobile, it would cause the phone to repeatedly dial the national emergency number. So phone operators had to cancel emergency calls until the fault was removed. In Europe. mobiles' short message service, or SMS, has been used to send codes that could damage phones. Mobile users can 10 viruses, of course, by sticking to their traditional phones without Web links, some experts said.

    Paul received a car from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a boy was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it.

    "Is this your car, mister?" he said.

    Paul nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Christmas." The boy was astounded. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you anything? Oh, I wish…"He hesitated.

    Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said shocked Paul all the way down to his heels.

    "I wish." the boy went on, "that I could be a brother like that."

    Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, and then impulsively （冲动地） he added, "Would you like to take a ride in my car?"

    "Oh. yes, I'd love that."

    After a short ride, the boy turned to Paul and said. "Mister, would you mind driving to my house?"

    Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He waned to show his neighbours that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked

    He ran up the steps. In a little while he came back. carrying his little disabled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step. and pointed to the car.

    "Buddy just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about."

    Paul got out and lifted the boy into the front seat of his car  The older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride. That Christmas Eve. Paul learned what Jesus meant when he said. "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

    "Don't tell anyone". We hear these words when someone tells a secret to us. But it can be hard to keep a secret. We`re often tempted to "spill the beans", even if we regret it later.

    According to Asim Shah, professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, US, keeping a secret may well "become a burden". This is because people often have an "obsessive（无法摆脱的）and anxious urge to share it with someone".

    An earlier study, led by Anita E. Kelly, a scientist at the University of Notre Dame, US, suggested that keeping a secret could cause stress. People entrusted with secrets can suffer from depression anxiety, and body aches, reported the Daily Mail.

    But with secrets so often getting out, why do people share them at all?Shah explained that people often feel that it will help them keep a person as a friend. Another reason people share secrets is guilt over keeping it from someone close to them. A sense of distrust can develop when people who are close do not share it with each other. "Keeping or sharing secrets often puts people in a position of either gaining or losing the trust of someone," according to Shah.

    He added that talkative people could let secrets slip out. But this doesn't mean that it is a good idea only to share secrets with quiet people. A quiet person may be someone who keeps everything inside. To tell such a person a secret may cause them stress, and make them talk about the secret.

    Shah said that to judge whether to tell someone a secret, you'd better put yourself in their position Think about how you would feel to be told that you mustn't give the information away. Shah also recommended that if you accidentally give up someone's secret you should come clean about it. Let the person know that their secret isn't so secret anymore.

    "Any apples today?" Effie asked cheerfully at my window. I followed her to her truck and bought a kilo. On credit, of course. Cash was the one thing in the world I lacked just then.

    All pretense （借口） of payment was dropped when our funds, food and funds decreased to alarming lows. Effie came often, always bringing some gift: a jar of peaches or some firewood. There were other generosities.

    Effie was not a rich woman. Her income, derived from investments she had made while running an interior decorating shop. had never exceeded $200 a month, which she supplemented by selling her apples. But she always managed to help someone poorer.

    Years passed before I was able to return the money Effie had given me from time to time. She was ill now and had aged rapidly in the last year. "Here, darling," I said, "is what l owe you."

    "Give it back as I gave it to you--a little at a time." I think she believed there was magic in the slow discharge of a love debt.

    The simple fact is that I never repaid the whole amount to Effie, for she died a few weeks later. By now, the few dollars Effie gave me have been multiplied many times. But a curious thing began to happen.

    Whenever I saw a fellow human in financial trouble, I was moved to help him. I can't afford to do this always, but in the ten years since Effie's death, I have indirectly repaid my debt to her.

     At that time, it seemed that my debt would forever go unsettled. So the account can never be marked closed. for Effie's love will go on in hearts that have never known her.

A. Our baby was not doing well, so Effie financed my wife's trip to New York for consultation with a specialist.

B. Give your help to those in greater need.

C. The oddest part of the whole affair is that people whom I help often help others later on.

D. Effie work diligently all her life.

E. "Pay me whenever you like," said Effie, climbing back into her truck.

F. "Don't give it to me all at once," she said.