My father is a smart man. He spent many years of his life listening to people’s arguments, first as assistant district lawyer and then as a judge. My dad knows rubbish rhetoric when he hears it.
One of his favorite phrases is: “If you don’t have anything smart to say, then don’t say it at all.” Yet, for all of his legal training and life experience, he can’t help but keep talking about the Mega Millions jackpot.
We all know the odds(几率)of winning the jackpot this evening with one ticket are extraordinarily low ... 1 in 175, 711, 536, to be exact. Still, people go out and buy hundreds of tickets with the hopes of becoming wealthier beyond their dreams. Why? There are two possible explanations for this “irrationality”(不理智).
One idea is that the way we calculate odds in our heads has nothing to do with mathematical odds in the traditional sense. We don’t go to the mathematical odds table and say, “Well, this would be a terrible investment. I think I’m better off putting my money in the bank!” Rather, it has everything with the ability to picture an event happening.
My father, for instance, watches the news every night and sees people winning the lottery(彩票). Therefore, he thinks the chance of him winning the lottery is much higher than they actually are.
The second thought is that the expected effect of playing cannot be represented merely by the odds. My father and, I’m sure, others get a thrill from the mere idea of winning. He loves imagining what it would be like to actually win and losing doesn’t really affect him. Sure, he’s disappointed, but it’s “better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” When you combine the utility of thinking you can win with the utility of actually winning (no matter how small the chance of that occurring), it’s worth it for many people to spend the one dollar on a ticket.
My analysis is that both factors are at play in taking a chance on the lottery. My father and others really do underestimate the odds of winning, but the thrill of participation is not denied by a realistic assessment of the odds. Still, I would probably put my finger on the scale for the first explanation.
All told, a review of the odds of other events happening confirms that there just aren’t many events that occur with less frequency than your winning the Mega Millions jackpot. Look at the graph below, you may understand some:
In many ways, it’s like the lottery, something that features often on television and about which people fantasize, but that rarely happens.
So, when you watch, along with my Pa, to see if your lucky number is drawn this evening, keep in mind three things: that your number almost certainly won’t come up; that you are still going to have fun; and that, finally, a lot of other things are more likely to happen—but getting eaten by a shark isn’t one of them.
【小题1】It can be learned from the article that ________.
| A．the Mega Millions jackpot is the last lottery to win in the world |
| B．a judge in that country can’t talk about lottery because it is illegal |
| C．the writer doesn’t buy lottery, for he never hopes to become rich |
| D．In spite of little possibility, a lot of people spend money on lottery |
| A．show chances that those things take place are fewer |
| B．support the writer’s arguments on the lottery tickets |
| C．indicate no one can win the Mega Millions jackpot |
| D．say shark attack death will seldom happen this year |
| A．If one has mathematical odds, he can win the prize more easily. |
| B．Only those who have irrationality buy hundreds of lottery tickets. |
| C．The Mega Millions jackpot is very popular in the writer’s country. |
| D．Winning lottery is a shortcut to achieve the dream of being rich. |
| A．effective | B．ridiculous | C．contradictory | D．astonishing |
| A．The Popular Mega Millions Jackpot | B．Lottery is Merely a Trick |
| C．Mega Million is Like a Shark Attack | D．Be rich, Buy Lottery Soon |
科目：高中英语 来源：2012-2013学年河南省河南大学附属中学高一上学期期中考试英语试卷（带解析） 题型：阅读理解
When I was about 12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings. Week by week her list grew: I was very thin, I wasn’t a good student, I talked too much, I was too proud, and so on. I tried to hear all this as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.
He listened to me quietly, then he asked. “Are the things she says true or not? Janet, didn’t you ever wonder what you’re really like ? Well, you now have that girl’s opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”
I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn’t change (like being very thin), but a good number I could—and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I go to fairly clear picture of myself.
I brought the list back to Daddy. He refused to take it.“That’s just for you,” he said.“You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just close your ears in anger and feeling hurt. When something said about you is true, you’ll find it will be of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don’t shut your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”
Daddy’s advice has returned to me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice.
【小题1】What did the father do after he had heard his daughter’s complaint?
| A．He told her not to pay any attention to what her “enemy” had said. |
| B．He criticized (批评) her and told her to overcome her shortcomings. |
| C．He told her to write down all that her “enemy” had said about her and pay attention only to the things that were true. |
| D．He refused to take the list and have a look at it. |
| A．Because he believed that what her daughter’s “enemy” said was mostly true. |
| B．Because he had been so angry with his daughter’s shortcomings that he wanted to show this by keeping silent for a while. |
| C．Because he knew that his daughter would not listen to him at that moment. |
| D．Because he wasn’t quite sure which girl was telling the truth. |
| A．Not an Enemy, but the Best Friend |
| B．The Best Advice I’ve Ever Had |
| C．My Father |
| D．My Childhood |
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科目：高中英语 来源：江苏省三所著名高中2010届高三下学期4月联考 题型：阅读理解
D
My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could
make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to
be called Pip.
As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first imagination regarding what they were like, were unreasonably from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father’s gave me a strange idea that he was a square, dark man , with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the words, “Also Georgiana Wife of the Above,” I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled（长雀斑的）and sickly.
Ours was wet country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on an unforgettable cold afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain, that this place overgrown with nettles（荨麻）was the churchyard（墓地）;and that Philip Pirip, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children to the aforesaid, were also dead and buried. Suddenly I began to feel lonely and sad and afraid. I began to cry.
"Hold your noise!" cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. "Keep still, you little devil, or I'll cut your throat!"
A fearful man, all in grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been shivered; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.
"Oh! Don't cut my throat, sir," I pleaded in terror. "Pray don't do it, sir."
"Tell us your name!" said the man. "Quick!"
"Pip, sir."
"Once more," said the man, staring at me. "Give it mouth!"
"Pip. Pip, sir."
“Show us where you live ,” said the man. “Point out the place!”
I pointed to where our village lay, among the alder-tree, a mile or more from the church. The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned mw upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread. When the church came to itself—for he was so sudden and strong that he made to go head over heels before me, and I saw the steeple（尖塔）under my feet—when the church came to itself, I say, I was seated on a high tombstone, trembling, while he ate the bread hungrily.
“You young dog,” said the man, licking his lips, “what fat cheeks you have got.”
I believe they were fat, though I was at that time undersized for my years, and not strong.
“Darn me If I couldn’t eat them,” said the man, with a threatening shake of his head.
I carefully expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter to the tombstone on which he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep myself from crying.
“Now look here!” said the man. “Where’s your father?”
“There sir!” said I .
He started, made a short run, and stopped and liked over his shoulder.
“There sir!” I explained. “That’s his grave.”
“Oh!” said he, coming back.
“And mother’s there too, sir. And my five little brothers.”
67．Who do you think Alexander is?
A．Pip’s friend. B．Pip’s father.
C．One of Pip’s little brothers. D．The fearful man.
68．It can be learned from the passage that .
A．Pip’s mother was freckled and ill.
B．Pip imagined what his parents liked through their photographs.
C．Pip’s parents and little brothers were killed by the man.
D．Pip was probably shorter or thinner than most children of his age.
69．What is the fearful man most likely to be?
A．An escaped prisoner. B．A minister of the church.
C．A tower watcher. D．Pip’s parents’ enemy.
70．Which of the following is right according to the passage?
A．It was the words on the tombstones that made mw know of my parents’ appearance.
B．The man was so hungry that he wanted to cut his throat and eat his fat cheeks.
C．Pip’s parents were buried together in the churchyard 20 miles from the village.
D．He called himself Pip just because he was too young to pronounce his long name clearly.
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科目：高中英语 来源：河北省正定中学2010届高三下学期第一次模拟英语试题 题型：阅读理解
第二部分 阅读理解（共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
If I were writing a history of my family, some of the darkest moments recorded would be those surrounding Christmas trees．One would certainly think otherwise; selecting and putting up our trees have always been filled with risk．For example, one afternoon dangerously close to Christmas Eve my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain, a glorious tree that was so full and tall that we could hardly get it onto the house．Once we did, my father immediately realized that we would have to hire a carpenter to build a stand for it．Another December, perhaps the very next one, we bought a tree earlier than we ever had before．We were happy with its shape and delighted that its size was manageable．We easily placed it in a stand, decorated（装饰）it from top to bottom, and then self-satisfiedly sat back by the fire in its soft light．Two or three days passed and the truth could not be hidden; we had bought a tree cut so long ago that its needles were coming off．There was nothing to do undecorated it, take it down, and begin treeshopping again．Our most recent Christmas tree offered still another difficult task．When we brought it home, once again it seemed larger than it had in the great outdoors．To complicate matters, we had bought a new stand, one whose nuts and bolts worked more mysteriously than those of our old stand．I persuaded two young neighbors to stop playing basketball and to help us get the tree into the house and set it correctly in the stand．Unfortunately, no one noticed the mud on our helpers’ shoes, so only after removing several reddish brown spots from the carpet were we able to discuss the question of where the lights and ornaments（装饰）were stored．Perhaps those who cut their own trees have tales more painful than these．I don’t care to hear them, as my family’s experiences are enough to cause me to make the following suggestion：“Let’s forget the tree next Christmas．Let’s simply hang some flowers on the front door and over the mirror in the hall．”
41．The darkest moments in the writer’s family were with the fact that________．
A．the family bought big Christmas trees
B．they had problems decorating their Christmas trees
C．they had problems picking suitable Christmas trees
D．they had problems finding carpenters for putting up Christmas trees．
42．We can learn from the passage that the writer would like to________．
A．forget about Christmas
B．get the neighbors to put up their trees
C．buy a better tree
D．make some other decorations to celebrate Christmas rather than the tree
43．When the writer said“mother bought what she thought to be a bargain”, he means________．
A．she bought the tree at a cheap price
B．she didn’t really want to buy it
C．she had to bargain hard with the salesman
D．she couldn’t afford a more expensive one
44．Which 
of the following can be the best for the passage?
A．How to Select a Christmas Tree B．No More Christmas Tree for US
C．Dark Moments of Life D．Christmas without Trees
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科目：高中英语 来源：2011-2012学年陕西省西安市远东第一中学高二12月月考英语试卷（带解析） 题型：阅读理解
I first went to Harrow in the summer term. The school had the biggest swimming pool I had ever seen. It was a good joke to come up behind a naked boy, and push him into the pool. I made quite a habit of this with boys of my own size or less.
One day I saw a boy wrapped in a towel on the side of the pool. He was no bigger than I was, so I thought him a fair game. Coming secretly behind, I pushed him in, holding on to his towel so that it would not get wet, I was surprised to see an angry face come out from the water, and a being of great strength masking its way by face strokes (猛力地划)to the shore. I fled, but in vain. He overtook me, seized me violently, and threw me into the deepest part of the pool. I soon climbed out on the other side, and found myself surrounded by a crowd of younger boys.” Do you know what you have done?” they said, “It’s Amery; he is in Grade Six. He is champion at gym; he has got his football honor.”
I was frightened and felt ashamed. How could I tell his position when be was wrapped in a bath towel and so small.” He didn’t seem pleased at all, so I added in a most brilliant word,” My father, who is a great man, is also small.” At this be laughed, and after some general words about my rude behavior and how I had better be careful in the future, signified the incident was closed.
【小题1】The writer thought Amery” a fair game” because the boy .
| A．was of similar size |
| B．was fond of games |
| C．looked like an animal |
| D．was good at sports |
| A．he was laughed at by other boys |
| B．he played a joke on an outstanding athlete |
| C．Amery turned out to be in the same grade |
| D．he pushed Amery hard and hurt him |
| A．challenged Amery | B．threatened Amery |
| C．admired his father | D．tried to please Amery |
| A．The writer could run faster than Amery. |
| B．Amery forgave the writer for his rude behavior. |
| C．The writer liked playing on boys of all sizes. |
| D．Amery was a student in Grade Four. |
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科目：高中英语 来源：2011-2012学年广西桂林中学高一下学期期中考试英语试卷（带解析） 题型：填空题
单词拼写
【小题1】Senior people should go to hospital to have themselves e______ once a year.
【小题2】Many unusual things have been found in the ________(胃) of some sharks(鲨鱼).
【小题3】What do you mean by l_______ a candle in the daytime?
【小题4】To tell the truth, I feel _______(荣幸) by your trust.
【小题5】Most people of my father’s ________(一代) have experienced the hardship of wars.
【小题6】I r________ her without difficulty, because she was as beautiful as ten years ago.
【小题7】As the plane was about to take off, we all f______ our seat belts.
【小题8】The sports meet was so _______ (成功的) that we were praised by the leaders.
【小题9】It is _______(极其) hot outside . I have never experienced such a hot summer in my life.
【小题10】The _______(鼓舞人心的) story of the scientists moved many students . They decided to study hard.
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