高等教育自学考试《英语（二）》模拟试卷一

Green transportation choices provide you with the keys to the kingdom as you travel.You can walk off the calories of that buttery croissant as you explore Paris.Or better understand Chinese culture as you park your Flying Pigeon bicycle amid 100 others in a Beijing parking lot dedicated just to bikes.A marine ferry takes longer than an airplane to get you to Alaska, Mykonos or Nova Scotia, but you have a good chance of seeing dolphins and eagles, reading a book or two and chatting with the crew.You'll save money, your waistline and fossil fuel emissions by taking the greener road.Step 1:Get out of the car and walk once you arrive.The very greenest transportation choices are the non-motorized ones-bicycling and walking.Fortunately, both are also the best way to see a city.Pack comfortable shoes so you can explore without foot fatigue.Step 2:See if your lodging provides free bicycles for guests, recommends Irene Lane of Greenloons, a company that advises families on ecotourism travel choices.If not, rent a bicycle from a shop: many carry electric bikes that'll help you tackle hills or long rides even if you're not in top biking shape.In addition, see if your destination has a bike-sharing system that's accessible to tourists.For a small fee, these sharing systems allow you to pick up a bicycle from a nearby bike station, ride it to your heart's content for an hour or two, then return it to any other bike station in the city.Step 3:Take public transit once you arrive at your destination—most major transit systems now post maps and schedules online on multilingual sites, allowing you to familiarize yourself with the system in advance.In addition, some systems have applications for smart phones so you can get up-to-date information as you travel.Step 4:Move between cities using buses, trains and ferries, which tend to be greener than automobiles and airplanes—buses are considered more efficient than cars because their emissions are shared by several dozen people.If you have to fly or drive to get where you're going, take the most direct route and see if you can go green by proceeding on foot or bicycle once you arrive.Step 5:Rent an electric car if you must travel by vehicle and focus on green driving behaviors.Plan an efficient route, inflate your tires properly and remove unnecessary cargo to improve fuel efficiency and reduce the vehicle's carbon dioxide emissions.

American lunch hour is usually from noon until one o'clock or from one until two.People at work or school rarely go home for lunch.Instead, many bring lunch with them from home.For this purpose they need a meal that is small, portable, and does not require constant refrigeration.The sandwich meets all these three requirements.When it comes to talking about the sandwich, Americans can offer you a long list of its names: a submarine sandwich, a hero, a hoagie, a grinder, a pool boy, a torpedo, a club sandwich and an open sandwich.Whatever you call it, this concoction (混合) of cold cuts in a roll is as American as the hot dog or the apple pie.In attempting to track down its origin, it is found that several U.S.cities claim to be its birthplace—New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, and Chester.A strong possibility is the simultaneous, independent invention of all these cities.Whatever it started, the sandwich was clearly an innovation of the Italian immigrants, In their old country, Italian workers had gone home at midday for their lunch; since U.S.factory owners frowned on this practice, they adopted the roll as a kind of lunchbox and put their meat and cheese within.In this way, an inexpensive yet filling meal could be carried to the workplace without damage.Hence we can see the sandwich as a compromise between the Old World attachment to sausages and cheese, and the need in the American workday context.The sandwich remained largely a working-class item from its beginning in the 1580s.Then during the Depression the financially suffered middle class realized its value as an economical meal and transformed it into an American staple （生活必需品）.

①Itzhak Perlman is considered one of the most gifted violinists in the world, a person with extraordinary talent who has persevered in spite of life-altering limitations.Born in Tel Aviv, Palestine in 1945, Perlman was stricken with the life-threatening polio virus at the age of four.Though he eventually learned to walk with crutches, the virus sadly and permanently damaged his legs, and to this day, he performs seated as a soloist, which is unusual.Nevertheless, Perlman was already beginning to play the violin, which in past interviews he has stated he was strongly encouraged to play in order to improve mobility in his fingers after his bout with polio.②This encouragement clearly worked on what was probably a natural talent in any case.After first studying at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, he came to the United States, and by age 13, he'd had his first nationally televised performance on the Ed Sullivan Show.He continued studying at the New York—based Julliard School of Music, and in 1964, Itzhak Perlman won the highly competitive Levintritt Competition.This award made him internationally noticed and he began what has been a nonstop career of performance in orchestras throughout the world.③The career of Itzhak Perlman can be said to have had both highlights and higher lights.He seems continually to build on past successes, and continues to win new fans, multiple awards, and critical acclaim.Some of his most notable career moves include joining the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1987.The orchestra toured, for the first time, several Eastern bloc countries, culminating with a performance in the Soviet Union in 1990.Perlman later went back to the Soviet Union in the same year to participate in a concert, which honored the birth of Tchaikovsky, and performed with other famous musicians, such as Yo-Yo Ma and Jessye Norman.④Recordings of the work of Itzhak Perlman abound and have gained him several Emmys and numerous Grammys.Perlman has also been honored with several prestigious awards from the United States.In 1986, Ronald Reagan gifted Perlman with the Medal of Freedom, and in 2000 Perlman earned the National Medal of Arts.Perlman has also been known for his collaborative efforts with some of today’s most noted film composers, such as John Williams.More recently, Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma had featured solo performances on the soundtrack of Memoirs of a Geisha.⑤As one of the world's best violinists, it's fitting that Itzhak Perlman performs on two of the world's best violins.However it would be wrong to label this musician as only a violinist.He's also a charming speaker who has delighted guests with his fine sense of humor in guest appearances on television and in his hosting of the popular PBS program The Three Tenors.He's dedicated in his support of public people into making donation.In recent years, Perlman has begun to focus on conducting, and was appointed the Westchester Philharmonic principle conductor in 2007.He also continues his goal of delighting and educating people with music.

You can only learn from a mistake after you ____1____ you’ve made it.As soon as you start blaming other people (or the universe itself) you distance yourself ____2____ any possible lesson.But if you courageously stand up and honestly say “This is my mistake and I am responsible” the possibilities for learning will move towards you.Admission of a mistake, even if only privately to yourself, makes learning ____3____ by moving the focus away from blame assignment and towards understanding.This advice ____4____ counter to the cultural assumptions we have about mistakes and failure, namely that they are ____5____ things.We’re taught in school, in our families, or at work to feel guilty about failure and to do whatever we can to ____6____ mistakes.This sense of shame explains why many people give up on their goals: they’re not ____7____ for the mistakes and failures What’s missing in many people’s beliefs about success is the fact that the more ____8____ the goal, the more frequent and difficult setbacks will be.The larger your ambitions, the more dependent you will be on your ability to overcome and learn from your mistakes.But for many reasons admitting mistakes is difficult.An implied value in many cultures is that our work represents us: if you fail a test, then you are a ____9____ .If you make a mistake then you are a mistake.Learning from mistakes requires three things: putting yourself in situations where you can make interesting mistakes; having the self-confidence to admit to them; being ____10____ about making changes.