Book One
Unit Nine
Passage One
Directions: You will have 10 minutes to read this passage quickly and answer the following
questions from A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
It’s something to Live in
Kids have always loved to build tree houses and playhouse. Why should it be a surprise, then, that some grown-ups like to do the same kind of thing? All over America there are many kinds of houses that people built.
Many of the people who built their houses knew nothing about building when they started. Maude Meager and Carolyn Smiley were such people. They moved to California when they were in their 50s and decided to build a house. They had never built anything, but they figured they could learn.
Of course, they made mistakes along the way. But by trying, they learned how to do everything that had to be done. They made bricks by testing different mixtures of mud until they found a good, strong one. They cut 3,000 windowpanes (窗玻璃) from old car windshields (挡风玻璃). They fashioned nine fireplaces, all different. What they ended up with was a home about the size of eight average houses.
In Fresno, California, lives a man named Baldasare Forestiere. When he came to America from Sicily, he got a job digging subway tunnels in Boston. So when he built himself a house, he built it underground. Each of the ninety rooms he built had a hole in its ceiling open to the sky above. And beneath each hole he planted a fruit tree.
There is a stone castle in Arizona that was built by one man. There are used auto parts, refrigerator plates, and broken tiles (碎瓦片) in the walls among the stones. The builder’s name was Boyce Gulley. He had promised his daughter that someday she would have a castle. When he died in 1945, she saw it for the first time. Today it is her home.
Fred Burns built his house on the water in Belfast, Maine. He used driftwood (浮木), rusty nails, and leftover paint. He built it a little at a time until became a drifting, colorful house. He lives in his work of art with his ten dogs.
David Brown built a house of bottles in British Columbia, Canada. He collected bottles from all his friends and cemented them together into thick walls. He figured half a million bottles went into his house. When he died, his son went right on building. Now there is even a bridge built of bottles in the yard.
In the mountains of New York, Clarence Schmidt set out to build himself a log cabin（小木屋）. When it was fit to live in, Schmidt found that he couldn’t stop building. He kept adding to his house. Finally he had a seven-storey house with many rooms. All around the grounds Schmidt placed useless or old things that were interesting to him. Some of this he wrapped in tin foil (锡纸) so it would reflect the light. He painted some of his windows to look like stained glass. Schmidt’s neighbors weren’t happy with his house and his useless things. A fire burned that house down, the work of someone who didn’t understand him.
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Handmade houses are not always easy to find. The people who build them are often thought strange. Sometimes they hide themselves away. Jan Wampler, a teacher of architecture in Cambridge, Massachusetts, set out to find people who had put together their own houses. His book All Their Own: People and the Places They Build shows many such houses, some of which you have read about here.
Wampler believes that what these “strange” people have done is what more people need to do. It feels good to put something of yourself into the walls around you. If you’re not allowed even to pound nails into those walls, you are being robbed. As an architect, Wampler would like to see people take part in the design of their homes. He would like to see housing projects planned and even built by the people who will live in them. He thinks that, like the builders he found across the country, people would care more about their homes if they helped make them.
(660 words) Questions
1. Maude Meager and Carolyn Smiley cut 3,000 windowpanes from .
A) trucks B) other houses C) old car windshields D) old building 2. Baldasare Forestiere built his own house with __ ___ rooms underground.
A) ninety B) fifty C) eighty D) forty
3. Auto parts, refrigerator trays, and ________ were used into the walls of a stone castle in
Arizona by Boyce Gulley.
A) the bottles B) broken tiles C) logs D) both A and C 4. Who collected bottles from all his friends and cemented them together to build a house of
bottles in British Columbia, Canada?
A) Boyce Gulley. B) Wampler. C) David Brown. D) Fred Burns. 5. Who is Jan Wampler?
A) An architect. B) A teacher. C) A writer. D) Both A and B
Notes
1. Cambridge坎布里奇(美国马萨诸塞州城市, 哈佛大学所在地)
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Passage Two
Directions: In this part, you will have 10 minutes to go over the passage quickly and decide
questions 1-5 according to the passage. If it is true you fill “T” in the parenthesis, if not or false fill “F” in parenthesis before the sentence.
How Psychic Development Can Benefit Your Life
Psychic development (心理发展)—the ability of an individual to use one or more of their psychic abilities for achieving the results not to be explained beyond the standard. Psychic ability is also not to be explained by any known laws. But since the beginning of modern civilization, man has always known of the existence of these unique powers.
Egypt, Greece and Rome
Man’s desire to study psychic development is nothing new. Through the centuries of time, man has attempted to understand this unusual phenomenon. The ancient Egyptians were strong believers in these unseen forces and devoted centuries of study to understand, develop and control them. They used various psychic development techniques to help them better know these mysterious forces. The Egyptians used dream scrying (以水晶球推算吉凶), astrology (占星术) and meditation (沉思). They also accepted rebirth as a fact of life. The Egyptians had several religious cults（祭拜仪式）devoted to understanding these psychic forces on a deeper level. The Greeks and Romans also had a strong interest in what we now call psychic development. They believed that you could use this knowledge to help yourself lead a better life. There were even “Mystery Schools” in Greece and Rome devoted to nothing but learning about spiritual and psychic development. In these Mystery Schools, they studied the Tarot (占卜用的纸牌,共二十二张), Numerology (命理学), Astrology and other forms of divination (占卜). In fact, the word “psychic” finds its origin from the Greek word “psychikos” meaning “of the soul and mind”.
Common Psychic Experiences
Psychic development uses our god-given sixth senses and is inherent in all of us. Therefore, learning how to develop and unlock this power is possible for everyone. Psychic development involves the uncovering and developing of your already existing abilities. Many people don’t even realize when they’ve had a psychic experience!
Here are some common psychic experiences one may have on a daily basis are: - Knowing who is calling before answering the phone
- Having a feeling about something that later proves to be correct - Dreaming something that actually happens later
- Understanding the hidden purpose behind things that happen
- Understanding other people’s true feelings without them having to express them - Knowing what someone is going to say before they say it
If you have experienced one or more of these experiences, it indicates the presence of strong psychic powers within. It is important to realize the presence of these psychic powers and to learn how to develop them using psychic development techniques. Ignoring or denying your psychic ability due to fear and doubt is not the right thing to do.
Psychic development has responsibilities that should not be feared but welcomed. These natural god-given abilities won’t go away, even if they are disregarded! They are natural gifts which should be explored and welcomed. Although the journey of discovery requires practice and
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patience, the end results will examine your efforts. You can learn to know the mysteries of life and understand what others mistakenly call the “unknown”.
The Benefit of Meditation
When you begin to take your first steps towards psychic development, the key is to remain calm and focused. Meditation helps with this to a great extent. Meditation can be used as a process of shutting out all worldly thoughts and going within. At first, some people find it is difficult to get into the practice of meditation. But meditation is very beneficial to the body, mind and soul of an individual.
There are several approaches one can use to get into a meditative state. While sitting upright, make yourself comfortable and keep your spine straight. Then try a few of the following exercises:
- Breath naturally while focusing on nothing but your breathing - Sit in a dimly lit room and focus your attention on a candle flame - Focus on a mental image in your mind
- Continuously repeat the mantra (颂歌) “Ohm” while relaxing your body
In order to make much more benefits of the psychic development process, practice one of the above meditation techniques at least twice a day for a least 10 minutes each time.
What You Will Gain
Psychic development techniques will help you to tap into the abilities already within yourself. In addition to the attainment (成就) of a deep sense of relaxation (放松) and peace of mind, psychic development will help to build up a new sense of confidence in yourself.
Insight
By working on psychic development, it will provide clearness, focus and a new sense of purpose in your life. You will come to recognize your potential talents and develop them, realizing that these powers can be used for success, prosperity and the benefit of others.
(751 words) True or False
( ) 1. Psychic development is the ability of an individual to use one or more of their psychic
abilities for achieving unexplainable results beyond the norm.
( ) 2. The ancient Egyptians used various psychic development techniques to help them better
control these mysterious forces.
( ) 3. The original meaning of “psychic” is from the Greek “psychikos”, which means “of the
soul and mind”.
( ) 4. Many people have strong abilities to realize when they’ve had a psychic experience. ( ) 5. Psychic ability is a natural gift by God in this article.
( ) 6. Meditation is a process of shutting out all worldly thoughts and going in one’s inner
world.
( ) 7. Many people find it is easy to get into the practice of meditation.
( ) 8.The study of psychic development can help people to understand and control their
behaviours.
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