B

Who is behind wiseGEEK? It’s one of the most common questions we receive. We are a team of researchers, writers and editors providing short, clear and concise answers to common questions. Currently, there are over 200 active contributors; you can read some of their profiles below.

Catherine has been involved with wiseGEEK since the beginning of 2006. Currently, she mainly manages our writers and editors and deals with visitors about their comments and questions.

What she loves most about wiseGEEK is learning more details about the things you kind of know about, and learning about things you never knew existed! Some articles she particularly enjoyed include What is a Trekkie? What is a Wormhole?

She comes to wiseGEEK with a degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. While her time is mostly filled with working for wiseGEEK, she can also be found trying to squeeze in trips whenever she can, usually to Europe.  Bronwyn began working for wiseGEEK as an editor, and though she continues to write and edit, she also puts her natural curiosity to work by thinking of new article topics. Bronwyn loves questions nearly as much as she loves answers!

Bronwyn has a degree in Psychology from UC Davis, and a teaching credential(证书) from CSU Sacramento. She is a primary school teacher and artist. There are few things she loves more than her dog, Solomon, her leopard, Tiger, and good chocolate.

In addition to writing the questions and editing the answers, Bronwyn has also written a few for wiseGEEK, including, What is an Owl Pellet? and Can I Really Make Yarn Out of my Dog’s Fur?

Johnny is the expert behind the scenes at wiseGEEK. Like most of the wiseGEEK team, Johnny works with language; but unlike our writers and editors, Johnny’s languages are PHP and SQL. He ensures that the website remains accessible and the pages load fast.

Johnny has a Master’s Degree in computer science; in addition to applying his skill to wiseGEEK, he also teaches programming classes at a technical school.

“Programming for wiseGEEK is a challenge, but not getting distracted (分心) and educated by the content on the site, is even harder.”

When Johnny is away from his computer, he likes playing the guitar; when he’s even farther away, he enjoys hiking. Carolyn joined wiseGEEK as a part-time editor in April 2009, and now works full time hiring new writers, responding to questions from readers, and doing whatever else needs to be done.

She comes to wiseGEEK after more than six years working as an online news producer. Although still a bit of a news junky, Carolyn really appreciates no longer being woken at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning to deal with breaking news. She has a degree in History from OberlinCollege, and spent two years studying Mass Communications at the University of Texas-Austin.

In her spare time, Carolyn loves to read, cook, and sew. She also watches more TV than is good for anyone.

46. What can we safely infer about wiseGEEK according to the profiles?

A. It employed its staff members since the beginning of 2006.

B. It is a website, offering brief and clear answers to common questions.

C. It offers online news to help learn things one never knows existed.

D. It aims at bringing up the curiosity of the children worldwide.

47. _______ would be in charge if readers failed to visit wiseGEEK?

A. Carolyn   B. Bronwyn   C. Johnny  D. Catherine

48. ______ of them do(es) extra work apart from working for wiseGEEK?

A. One   B. Two    C. Three   D. Four

49. Which of the following is true according to the passage above?

A. Carolyn really enjoys editing breaking news in early mornings.

B. Bronwyn likes her tiger more than writing for wiseGEEK.

C. Johnny holds the view that wiseGEEK enjoys great popularity.

D. Catherine works for wiseGEEK mainly to travel in Europe.

C

When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest.

One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight years old, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching  (紧握)  at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into the camera, eyes wide with confusion and fear.

The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growing interest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach my children to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to our refrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan.

“We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing,” I said. “We’ll share what we have with them.”

I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods.

While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games.

"I'll help you find something for the little girl when I'm done with this," I said.

The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy's flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on top of the other toys.

“Oh, Honey,” I said.“You don’t have to give Lucy. You love her so much.”

Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. ‘”Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she’ll make that other little girl happy, too.”

Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys the lesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. True generosity is giving that which you value most.

Honest benevolence  (善行)  is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girl she doesn’t know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had wanted to teach, had been taught.

The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.

A slow smile spread across Brett’s face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch some of his prized Matchbox cars.

Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan’s gesture meant. Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.

Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.

It’s easy to give that which we don’t want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn’t it? However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart..

50. Why does the author give a detailed description of a particular picture in the Sunday newspaper?

A. To create an atmosphere of fear and depression brought by the tornado.

B. To appeal to unconcerned people to donate for the poor families.

C. To show the helplessness and hopelessness of the family mentioned in the paper.

D. To stress what touched her and made her decide to help the hopeless family.

51. Why did Brad and Brett also donate their favorite things finally?

A. They were encouraged to donate some valuable things by the mother.

B. Meghan’s decision inspired them to donate their favorite things.

C. They also wanted to show generosity by giving away their valuable things.

D. Meghan’s gesture reminded them to replace their favorite things with new ones.

D

I hate the word “multitasking”. To me it sounds like doing lots of things all at once, only doing them all very badly and feeling like an exhausted failure when it's over. It gives me the feel of “hurry and do everything now because everything else is waiting.” I see the evil taskmaster with arms crossed and foot tapping. Yet the ability to multitask is exalted in our rabid, hyper-paced consumer culture. Well, I am sick and tired of feeling like some sort of lazy idiot for being a lousy multitasker. Maybe other people get some kind of real joy from going in eight directions at once, but I don’t. So, I’m done with it. I quit.

Why must there be so much hurry? Is there really that much to miss? Rush, rush, rush—I’m running late, red light, brakes, coffee, spill, …Please! The reason there is so much pressure and stress on us and the reason we are running late has to do with the fact that we are cramming 37 hours of work, events, activities, etc into a 24-hour day. I even heard of a church that starts its Sunday morning services at 6:30 AM because its supercharged members don’t want it to get in the way of their very productive, all-important day, packed with supercharged activities.

This kind of crazy, overly concentrated life, makes me want to just flee society for a while and live as a hippy. The kind of hippy that has time to sit on old couches in a small apartment and talk with friends. The kind of hippy that gets infrequent haircuts and ponders poetry and thinks about art. The kind of hippy who eats raw corn, right off the cob, picked from a nearby farm. I am thinking about a slow life where sleeping in is normal and soaking in the meaning of life is valued. I want to smell the roses.

Good grief, smell the roses? Does anyone even know where the roses are? Caught up in this crazy life, even the thought of roses is like an echo of a legend I hardly remember from once upon a time. Smell the roses? I wouldn’t even know where to start sniffing. And that is the problem, isn’t it? Can we get so busy that the stuff of life gets misplaced, misused, or forgotten?

Do you sometimes feel like you are in such a hurry that you can’t get anything done? Well, there is a reason for that. There are some things that you actually cannot do while in a hurry. Below is my list of things I cannot do while I am in a hurry. Feel free to make your own.

When I am in a hurry, I cannot listen very well. Yes, my ears work fine, but my mind is not very engaged and heart even less so. How does one hear a child say," I want to spend time with you," when you are on the run?

Another thing I cannot do while in a hurry is be wise. Wisdom dose not drive me when I am in a hurry. Instead, I am driven by the next thing, no matter what it is.

I cannot relax while in a hurry. Relaxing and being in a hurry are exact opposites, in my opinion. To some people, sleep gets in the way of life. I'm different. Life gets in the way of naps, and that is a problem.

Finally, I cannot parent while in a hurry. At least I cannot do it well. What I am finding with children is that they are fast when they should be slow and slow when they should be fast. Or maybe I'm the one who has it messed up. Either way, I'm out of sync with my children when I hurry too much. Parenting works best for me at the speed of nurture, which is not very fast.

Slowing down and doing only important things can really breathe some life into an ever-suffering existence. Most of the urgent things that "require" our hurry are the enemy. Stop multitasking and start living.

55. The author’s attitude towards multitasking is _______.

A. negative  B. positive   C. indifferent   D. not mentioned

56. The things the author couldn’t do well in a hurry are the following EXCEPT ___________.

A. going to the church     B. taking care of the children

C. relaxing        D. Listening well to others

57. What can we infer will be the most important thing in the author’s eyes?

A. Going to work on time.    B. Running the red light.

C. Keeping the company of the children.  D. Pleasing the boss.

58. According to the passage, what is the main reason why there is so much hurry in our life?

A. That we are not smart enough to deal with our work.

B. That we require ourselves to finish too much work in a limited time.

C. That we often sleep or take a nap during our work.

D. That we try our best to get promoted or get a pay rise.

59. This passage is likely to be taken from ________.

A. an official report      B. a tourist guide

C. a popular magazine     D. a doctor’s journal

60. What can be the best title for the passage?

A. Slow down and live     B. Stop multitasking

C. Don’t be in a hurry any longer   D. Why on the run?