Some time ago ,I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended ,as there are a whole lot of antique（古董）shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception（接待）. I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't oven look at my chair.
The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth - so I decided that my approach must be wrong.
I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper,“ Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said,“ Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?” “Twenty pounds,”I said. “OK, ”he said, “I’ll give you twenty pounds. ”“It ‘s got a slightly broken leg,”I said. “Yes, I saw that, it's nothing.”
Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?”I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done. ”“I'll buy it,”I said. “What do you mean？ You’ve just sold it to me,”he said. “Yes, I know but I’ve changed my mind. I'm sorry, I'll give you twenty -seven pounds for it. ”“ Your must be crazy, ”he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair. ”“ You’re right, ”I said. “And what would you have done if I had walked in and said,’Would you mend this chair for me I wouldn't have agreed to do it,” he said. “We don’t do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I’ll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver?”He was a very nice man and was greatly amused（感到有趣）by the whole thing.We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer ________.
| A．was rather impolite |
| B．was warmly received |
| C．asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair |
| D．asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair |
The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper ________.
| A．changed his mind | B．accepted the offer |
| C．saw the writer’s purpose | D．decided to help the writer |
How much did the writer pay?
| A．￡ 5. | B．￡ 7. | C．￡ 20. | D．￡ 27. |
From the text, we can learn that the writer was ________
| A．hanest | B．careful | C．smart | D．funny |
One very cold day，a snowstorm blew into our area. Needing firewood，I quickly set out with my best friend，Bruce，to look for a tree to cut down. I was glad to have Bruce along with. Cutting down a tree in a snowstorm can be dangerous. So it was important to have a friend who could warn me of danger.
When I chose a big tree about 23 meters tall and prepared to cut it down，my best friend suddenly warned me，“Don’t cut down that tree！It’s too close to the power line！﹙电线﹚”I wasn’t sure about it. So I decided to disregard his warning. I wanted to finish the job quickly and go home. So I began cutting down the tree. When the tree fell，there was no longer any doubt that my friend was right.
The tree caught the power line，bringing it to the ground. I considered cutting the tree off the line. After all，electricity can’t travel through wood，so I could safely remove the tree. As I reached out my finger to touch the tree，pain ran up my arm and through my head. I was shocked!
After I returned home and told my mother what had happened，she quickly called the power company. The workers from the power company soon arrived on the scene. One of them asked if I had touched the tree，and when I told him I had，his face turned pale.
“You should have been killed，” he said.
So why am I still alive？It was my boots that saved my life.
Within two hours，the workers removed the tree. Soon the snowstorm calmed down—but not my mother.
Even though she was glad I wasn’t hurt，my mother was still serious. After all，I shouldn’t have brushed off my friend’s warning.
Through this experience，I learn it’s important to listen to people who offer a different perspective. Taking time to listen might actually save a lot of time and trouble. It certainly would have kept me from getting the “shock” of my life.The underlined word “disregard” in the second paragraph means “________”．
| A．pay no attention to | B．take notice of | C．consider | D．follow |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．But for his boots，the author would have died. |
| B．The author regretted having brushed off his friend’s warning. |
| C．The author knew nothing about electricity. |
| D．When the tree was cut down，the author realized his friend was right. |
The underlined part “the snowstorm calmed down—but not my mother” means “________”．
| A．my mother was still angry with me for not listening to my friend’s warning |
| B．my mother was still in fear of the terrible accident |
| C．my mother was still comforting me |
| D．my mother was still worried about my safety |
The author wrote the passage mainly to________.
| A．give an account of one of his terrible experiences |
| B．make us know it’s important to listen to people who offer a different perspective through his experience |
| C．tell us not to cut trees down any more |
| D．remind us to be careful while we are working |
China has become Volvo's third largest market, with more of its car models to go on sale in the world's largest auto（汽车） market this year, Chief Executive Office (CEO) of Volvo Cars China said in Tianjin.
Alexander Klose, CEO of Volvo Cars China, told Xinhua at the Ninth Tianjin International Automobile Trade Show, being held from Friday to Wednesday.
Klose said Volvo Cars had entered a new time of fast development, adding that its sales volume in China roared in 2010.
Up to the end of September, Volvo's global sales volume was up 12.5 percent year on year（同年比）, compared with 52 percent year-on-year rise in China, he said.
Two new Volvo sales centers opened in Beijing within merely one week in early October, about two months after east China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co acquired（购得）the Swedish brand from the US auto giant Ford for $1.5 billion in early August.
Klose said he was confident of seeing tremendous(巨大的) growth in China's auto market in the next five years. "As the Chinese government has increased the tax rate for large displacement （排量）cars already, we now have a lot of cars below three liters（升）, and I think we'll stick to that strategy, as you can see now the XC60 which was introduced today is just two liters," he said.
"As the technology advances, we'll probably even see 1.6 liter engines or 1.5 liter engines in the future," he added.
Volvo Cars is not the only automaker hoping to take advantage of China's rapidly growing auto market.
Bentley, the famous British luxury（豪华） carmaker, will open a new sales center in China at Tianjin Thursday, which is the 11th one in China, according to a press release（新闻发布） by Shanghai-based Zenith Integrated Communications Corp (Zenith) Saturday at the auto show.
Zenth is the public relations agent of Bentley in China. The automaker has sold 421 limousines（大型豪华轿车） to China in 2009, and the goal for 2010 is 777, the release said.The word underlined in the third paragraph would probably be___.
| A．shouted loudly | B．increased in large numbers |
| C．reduced rapidly | D．burned brightly |
From this passage we can infer that ___.
| A．The Ninth Tianjin International Automobile Trade Show was held from Friday to Wednesday. |
| B．Volvo Cars is a world-famous carmaker in Britain. |
| C．Of all the auto sales volume Volvo sales volume is only number one in China |
| D．Volvo sales centers are developing very fast in China recently |
The text is mainly about____.
| A．China Becomes Volvo's 3rd largest market |
| B．Volvo Cars in China |
| C．Volvo Sales Volume in China |
| D．Carmakers in China |
How many carmakers are mentioned in this passage which opened and will open new sales centers in China recently?
| A．One | B．Two | C．Three | D．Four |
When we look at the sky and see a bright light moving quickly across it or coming towards the earth, we talk about seeing a “shooting star” or a “falling star”. These moving lights are not, in fact, stars at all. They are small pieces of matter from outer space, which burn up as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The correct name of them is meteoroids. Any pieces that make it to the Earth’s surface without completely burning up are known as meteorites. A meteor is actually the name given to the light we see when a meteoroid is burning up.
When a meteorite hits the Earth at speeds between 11 and 72 kilometers a second, it can do amazing damage. A very large meteorite could knock the earth out of its orbit. If this happened, all life on Earth would probably become extinct（灭绝）. The path we follow around the Sun would change and as a result the Earth would become either much hotter or much colder. This change in temperature would affect sea levels and the amount of water in rivers. There would either be huge floods, which would cover most of the land with water, or the oceans would dry up and there would be a drought, which means a long period of time without rain. Either way, nothing could survive. If a large meteorite landed in the sea it would almost certainly cause tsunamis, which would race towards the land, destroying everything in their paths.
Although it is unlikely the Earth will be struck by a meteorite large enough to do that kind of damage, there is evidence of fairly large meteorites hitting the Earth in the past. In 1908 a large area of forest in Tunguska, Siberia was destroyed by a meteorite that came apart just before it hit the ground. The moon, however, has about three billion craters陨石坑caused by meteorites impacting影响 its surface. The reason more meteorites have reached the surface of the moon than the surface of the Earth is that the moon does not have enough atmosphere for the meteorites to burn up in. some of the meteorites that have reached the Earth’s surface have done considerable damage. Some scientists believe it was a change of climate caused by meteorites hitting the Earth that resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs and other large prehistoric animals.
Scientists are especially interested in meteorites because they contain information about the solar system. It is widely believed by scientists that most meteorites are produced by collisions（碰撞） between asteroids (small planets). These collisions probably happened many billions of years ago. This means the physical and chemical structure of a meteorite can give scientists information about the early days of the universe.The story is about ___.
| A．floods caused by meteors |
| B．matter from outer space |
| C．life on Earth millions of years ago |
| D．meteorites that have damaged the moon |
The Earth has ___.
| A．three billion craters |
| B．fewer craters than the moon |
| C．more craters than the moon |
| D．a thinner atmosphere than the moon |
Some scientists believe the dinosaurs became extinct because ___.
| A．they were hit by meteors |
| B．meteorites landed on their nests |
| C．meteorites landed and changed the climate |
| D．they could no longer breathe the atmosphere |
Meteors are ___.
| A．small planets |
| B．the same as asteroids |
| C．from broken parts of asteroids |
| D．the light we see when meteoroids hit our atmosphere |
October 31, 2009, California
Tsien Hsue-shen, PhD'39, one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, died on October 31, He was 98.
Tsien, born in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, graduated from the National Qinghua University in 1934 and in August of 1935 he left China to study at the Massachusetts Institute Technology. In 1936 he went to the California Institute of Technology to commence graduate studies .Tsien obtained his doctor degree in 1939 and would remain at Caltech for 20 years, becoming the Goddard Professor and establishing a reputation as one of the leading rocket scientists in the United States.
In 1943, Tsien and two others in the Caltech rocketry group drafted the first document to use the name Jet Propulsion Laboratory. During the Second World War, he was amongst the other scientists participated the "Manhattan Project" .After World War II he served as a consultant to the United States Army Air Force. During this time, Conlonel Tsien worked on designing an intercontinental space plane. His work would inspire the X--20Dyna-Soar which would later be the inspiration for the Space Shuttle. In1945 Tsien Hsue--shen married Jiang Ying, the daughter of Jiang Baili--one of the Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai--shen's leading military strategists. But in 1950, the Chinese-born scientist was accused of harboring Communist sympathies and stripped of his security clearance.
In September 1955 he was permitted to leave for China, where Tsien resumed his research, founded the Institute of Mechanics, and went on to become the father of China's missile program, a trusted member of the government and Party's inner circle, and the nation's most honored scientist, Tsien retired in 1991 and has maintained a low public profile in Beijing, China. The PRC government launched its manned space program in 1992 and used Tsien's research as the basis for the Long March rocket which successfully launched the Shenzhou V mission in October of 2003.The elderly Tsien was able to watch China's first manned space mission on television from his hospital bed.
In his late years, since the 1980s, Tsien devoted himself to spirituality research, and advocated scientific investigation of traditional Chinese medicine, Qigong and "special human body functions".The underlined word "commence" in this passage probably means ____
| A．make up | B．get | C．begin | D．promise |
Tsien Hsue--shen got married at the age of ______
| A．45 | B．28 | C．24 | D．34 |
What is the right order of the events related to Tsien Hsue--shen ?
a. his later life
b. return to China
c. career in the U.S.A
d. his early life and education
| A．a-b-c-d | B．d-c-b-a | C．d-b-c-a | D．c-b-d-a |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．Tsien Hsue--shen got a doctor's degree in 1939. |
| B．Tsien Hsue--shen married Jiang Ying, the daughter of Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shen. |
| C．Tsien Hsue-shen has made a contribution to the Space Shuttle. |
| D．Tsien Hsue-shen was interested in traditional Chinese medicine, qigong and "special human body functions" in his later life. |
Egypt: Bridging the Gap between School English and Real English
Teaching English in Egypt in general and in my town Damietta in particular, is mainly directed towards helping students to pass their final exams. Unfortunately, most teachers do not adopt a long -term approach that guarantees that their students will be able to use English outside the classroom. So students only concentrate on one skill which is writing. Thus their listening and speaking skills are disabled. What is important to them is to pass the exam which is primarily based on writing .Teachers are not only concentrated with providing their students with questions that are similar to those of the final exam, particularly General Secondary Education Certificate (GSEC) Examination, so students spend most of their time answering typical exam questions.
Most students' scores are high; a lot of students get full marks. However, few students are able to communicate in English because their role plays. As a result, a lot of students complain that they are unable to understand and talk fluently with native speakers of English.
To enable students to communicate freely and spontaneously(自然地) in English, I bring features of real communication into language practice, I always ask students about their own experiences, and suggest groups of students practice what they have learned outside the classroom. This helps lower-achieving students absorb language. Furthermore, role play is a very effective way to improve speaking skills particularly if it is connected to the experience of the students.Who probably write this passage?
| A．a teacher | B．a governor | C．a student | D．a reporter |
In Egypt, the students only concentrate on ------
| A．listening skill | B．speaking skill | C．reading skill | D．writing skill |
The teachers question their students based on -------
| A．what they learn in the class |
| B．What their parents expect |
| C．The questions that are similar to those of GSEC |
| D．The ability that will be used outside the classroom |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Most of the students can't get high marks but can communicate with the native speakers of English. |
| B． Communicating skill is more important than writing skill. |
| C．Role play connected to the speaker's experience is more effective in improving his skill. |
| D．The lower--achieving students can do better in speaking skill than the upper achieving students. |
Who will responsible for the gap between school English and real English?
| A．Their parents | B．The students | C．The school | D．The education sys tem |