4、The world has become so complex that we’ve lost confidence in our ability to understand and deal with it. But common sense is useful now as it ever was. No amount of expertise (專家意見) substitutes for a detailed knowledge of a person or a situation by oneself. At times you just have to trust your own judgment. It almost cost me my life to learn that. I was reading a book one day, idly scratching the back of my head, when I noticed that, in one particular spot, the scratching echoed (回聲) inside my head like fingernails on an empty cardboard box, I rushed off to my doctor. “Got a hole in your head, have you?” he teased. “It’s nothing – just one of those little head skin nerves sounding off.”

Two years and four doctors later, I was still being told it was nothing. To the fifth doctor, I said, almost in desperation, “But I live in its body. I know something’s different.”

“If you won’t take my word for it, I’ll take an X – ray and prove it to you,” he said. Well, there it was, of course, the tumor (腫瘤) that had made a hole as big as an eye socket in the back of my skull. After the operation, a young doctor paused by my bed. “It’s a good thing you’re so smart,” he said. “Most patients die of these tumors because we don’t know they’re there until it is too late.”

I’m really not so smart. And I’m too  easily – controlled in the face of authority. I should have been more aggressive with those first four doctors. It’s hard to question opinions delivered with absolute certainty. Experts always sound so sure. Nevile Chamberlain, the British prime minister, was positive, just before the start of World War II, that there would be “peace for our time.” Producer Irving Thalberg did not hesitate to advise Louis B. Mayer against buying the rights to Gone With the Wind because “no Civil War picture ever made a nickel.” Even Abraham Lincoln surely believed it when he said in his Gettysburg Address: “The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here…”

We should not, therefore, be frightened by experts. When it’s an area we really know about – our bodies, our families, our houses – let’s listen to what the experts say, then make up our own minds.

1．The purpose of writing this passage is to tell us that          .

       A．common sense is useless

       B．doctors are always reliable

       C．experts are not always right

       D．doctors are smarter than patients

2．We have to trust our own judgment sometimes because          .

       A．experts are often aggressive

       B．experts often lost their common sense

       C．we know ourselves better than anybody else

       D．not all of us have acquired reliable expertise

3．While reading one day, the author          .

       A．felt something wrong with the back of his head

       B．heard a scratching sound from a box

       C．found a hole at the back of his head

       D．hurt his head with his fingernails

4．The author didn’t think he was smart (para. 4) because          .

       A．he had already suffered for two years.

       B．he had believed too much in expertise

       C．he had not been able to put up with the pain

       D．he had formed too strong an opinion of himself

5．It happens that the examples given by the author are all         .

       A．connected with wars                            B．popular themes in movies

       C．set in American Civil War                      D．taken from modern American history

70．The author’s attitude toward expertise in his own experience is that of         .

       A．doubt       B．unconcern C．a(chǎn)cceptance       D．refusal

3、David Beckham made a losing start to his second season in Major League Soccer when his Los Angeles Galaxy team were crushed 4 – 0 by the Colorado Rapids on Saturday.

Beckham, in his first game since reaching 100 international caps for England in a friendly against France on Wednesday, played in a variety of different positions as head coach Ruud Gullit tried in vain to find a successful formation.

The former England captain and his Galaxy team mates struggled to cope with playing at altitude, just outside Denver.

“It is always going to be tough when you travel when you have got international games,” Beckham told reporters. It is always tough when you are back from England and you are adjusting to the time difference.

“I felt ok for most of the match but I was maybe not at my sharpest and maybe the altitude had something to do with that.”

Former Manchester United winger Terry Cooke opened scoring for Colorado after 10 minutes.

The Galaxy went further behind after an hour when defender Abel Xavier was adjudged to have fouled Rapids forward Omar Cummings inside the penalty area(罰球區(qū)). Christian Gomez converted the spot-kick after they argued fiercely.

“I find it hard not to criticize some of the decisions tonight but I’ve been told I’ll be fined if I do,” said Beckham. “But certain decisions change games. I think that has happened tonight.”

Cummings added Colorado’s third goal on 67 minutes before Colin Clark scored the fourth with 10 minutes left. 

Xavier was sent off late in the game for using abusive language towards referee Abiodun Okulaja and Colorado substitute Ciaran O’Brien was also dismissed after a foul on Carlos Ruiz.

1．The news report is mainly about        .

       A．Beckham’s new team Galaxy

       B．referee Okulaja’s preference

       C．Beckham’s good performance

       D．possible reasons for Galaxy’s first failure

2．We can know that        .

       A．Beckham is captain of England

       B．Beckham was not in form during the game

       C．Gullit found a proper position for Beckham

       D．Beckham was well adjusted to the time difference

3．By saying “certain decisions change games” Beckham means the referee          .

       A．carried out judgment in the Galaxy’s favor

       B．could do anything he liked on the football field

       C．carried out judgment in the Rapids’ favor

       D．might have received money from the Rapids

4．We know the        goal of Rapids was controversial.

       A．1 st                     B．2 nd                    C．3 rd                    D．4 th

5．We can infer that        is fighting for Galaxy.

       A．Xavier      B．O’Brien     C．Cooke      D．Gummings

2、If at the end I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.

——Abraham Lincoln

    We often focus on building relationships with others that we ignore the essential first step: being friends of ourselves. That is the crucial first step if we are to have good relationships with others. How can we have good relationships with others if we don’t even have good relationship with ourselves?

The problem might be worse than we expect. Maybe we don’t like ourselves without realizing it. Here is a simple checklist; is there anything you don’t like about yourself from this list?

Your past

Maybe you have made mistakes in the past which you feel bad about. You might be disappointed with yourself on why you could make such mistakes. Even if that happened in distant past, your subconscious mind still has a reason not to like yourself.

Your background

You might wish that you were born in different family. Maybe you could not accept the fact that you are not as lucky as others, who seem to get whatever they want effortlessly because of their background.

Your personality

You might have some personality traits that you don’t like. For example, you may be an introvert and you don’t like it; you wish you are an extrovert, who are active in social life.

Your achievements relative to others

Others might have better achievements than you, and no matter how hard you tried,        

                 . You might then think that it’s because you are not smart enough or don’t have enough talents. All these give reasons to you not to like yourself. That in turn makes it difficult for you to be a good friend to yourself.

1．Which sentence in the passage is closest in meaning to the following one?

    The mistakes you made long ago will still influence your behavior even though you are not aware of it.

2．What do you think of the mistakes you made in the past? (within 30 words)

3．Fill in the blank in the last paragraph with a proper sentence. (within 10 words)

4．What will probably be discussed in the following part? (within 10 words)

5．Translate the underlined sentence in the first paragraph into Chinese.

36、Be confident my boy, _____ you are born rich or poor.

A．if            B．that         C．which      D．whether

34、找出與所給單詞劃線部分讀音相同的選項。

1. chapter                     A. chorus                  B. stomach     C. chain             D. Christmas

2. worthy                  A. thread               B. further        C. worth             D. through

3. chief                 A. believe              B. lie              C. tie                 D. diet

4. biology            A. commercial       B. observe    C. occur           D. obvious

5. explanation        A. excellent            B. excuse              C. explain          D. express