B
The centerpiece of curling(冰壶)is the curling stone, which has been called a “geometrical masterpiece of tooled geology (地质). ” Kays of Scotland has been making curling stones sin
ce 1851, when William Kay and his sons Andrew and Thomas set up a workshop in Mauchline, Ayrshire , in southwest Scotland. Kays is still owned by the relatives of the founder, and today it is the only curling stone maker left in Scotland.
Used in a highly competitive sport, the curling stones are made to exact standards. First, stones are sliced and then into round “cheeses”. Finally , the cheeses are shaped and polished in
to curling stones in a series of precise steps.
Each stone must weigh 44 pounds. Each must have a maximum diameter (直径) of 36 inches. Polishing is done by hand on a wheel using water, diamond-talcum power, and felt. Finishing the stone’s “running edge” is done entirely by hand with a special kind of paper and a digital measure and magnifying glass (放大镜). Lastly, a handle is fitted into holes on the top of the stone. Stones are computer-matched into pairs. Sixteen stones -8pairs-are needed for a game, and since curling game field usually have 6 lanes, each game field needs 96 matched stones!
Kays is a small firm, employing than ten skilled workers. Master craftsman and co-owner James Wyllie is skilled at all phases of curling ston
e making and is also an enthusiastic curler, as well as active member of Mauchline’s Burns Club, which meets regularly to honor well-known Mauchline residents.
59．What IS true about Kays?
A．It is a family business． B．It’s a brand of curling stones．
C．It’s a place in Scotland． D．It’s the name of a curling stone dealer．
60．How many curling stones are needed for two games happening at the same time?
A．8． B．16． C．32． D．96．
61．Which of the following shows the right process of making a curling stone?
A. Slicing—shaping—polishing．
B．Weighing—measuring—polishing．
C. Cutting—running—edging—computer—matching
D. Cutting—measuring——shaping——polishing
Parents have widely different views on the problem of pocket money. Four new fathers were asked this question and this is how they answered.
Ashish Khanna: Although many argue that pocket money helps develop children’s sense of value, I don’t agree. I wouldn’t give my child any pocket money. First of all, I never got pocket money and I seem to have a good value for money. If my child ever needed something and I felt it was a reasonable（合理）request , I would buy it for him .
Sharad Sanghi: No, I wouldn’t give my child pocket money because I don’t want to create the perception（观念） of “ her ” money and “ my ” money . Besides, if I refuse to buy her something that I think is bad for her, she may buy it with her pocket money on the sly. In this way, I would lose control over my child’s requests. I feel it also encourages children to care more about money than anything else. I don’t want my child to start judging(评判) other children by the amount of money or pocket money they have.
Rakesh Shah: Yes, I would give my child pocket money. I feel that children should learn to spend money intelligently and not go overboard spending. They will learn what their limitations（限制）are and feel the difficulty when they have to pay for something that is over their own pockets .
Rajiv Patel: Yes, I would give my child pocket money because it is important that she learns to manage money. I will give her a fixed amount every month and if she spends the money before the month is over, then she will learn a lesson and not spend money so freely.
Vikram Desai: Yes, I would certainly give my child pocket money. But I would not give it to him on a weekly or monthly basis. He would have to earn it. If he helped me finish some of my jobs or helped his mother with housework, I would reward him. This helps him realize that “money does not grow on trees” and it requires hard work to earn money.Ashish Khanna may agree that ____________.
| A．he was given too much pocket money when young |
| B．he can take much control of his child by money |
| C．he will buy anything he thinks his child really needs |
| D．pocket money helps children develop a good value for money |
The underlined phrase “on the sly” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ___.
| A．for free | B．at a lower price |
| C．happily | D．secretly |
What do Rakesh Shah and Rajiv Patel have in common?
| A．They want their children to learn to manage money. |
| B．They ask their children to get pocket money by working. |
| C．They teach their children the difficulty of making money. |
| D．They allow their children to spend money freely. |
According to Vikram Desai, children’s earning money by themselves makes them know that ____.
| A．money is not easy to get |
| B．money can be gotten from the trees |
| C．one can get lots of money if he / she works hard |
| D．money is not so important for people nowadays |
Who would give his child pocket money every month ?
| A．Ashish Khanna | B．Sharad Sanghi |
| C．Rakesh Shah | D．Rajiv Patel |
Dear friend,
For the past 17 years, you have been my best friend. I remember that you told me you were called Cigarette because of your features. You have seen me through difficult times, happy times and just about every stage of my life. You have always been here when I need you. Some of my family and friends didn’t like you so much, but I’ve always been on your side. I thought you were a great friend, and I counted on you at all times, especially when I was not very happy.
It’s hard for me to tell you this, but in the past few months, I have been seriously thinking about ending our relationship. I think that I‘ve just been too dependent on you, and I feel that at the age of 35 I should start being more independent. I thought about just maybe seeing you once in a while, but I don’t think that would work. Eventually, I’d start relying on you all the time again. I feel the only way to end our relationship is to end it forever.
I’ve always included you in everything I’ve done. But next week, I’m going on a trip, and I’ve decided not to take you along. I feel this would be a good time to break up. I will be gone for a whole week without you and if I can make it on my own for that week, I know I can make it forever.
It is a little sad for me knowing that I won’t be able to rely on you any more, but I think I will be a better person in the end.By writing the letter, the author wants to ______.
| A．say goodbye to his girlfriend |
| B．tell his friendship with Cigarette |
| C．tell his travelling plan |
| D．give up smoking |
The underlined phrase “counted on” in the first paragraph can be replaced by “_______”.
| A．worried about | B．cared for |
| C．depended on | D．got along well with |
According to the passage, the “letter-receiver” _______.
| A．is the author’s girlfriend |
| B．has done harm to the author for years |
| C．will feel sad when reading the letter |
| D．will never leave the author |
The author decided to take a trip to ______.
| A．get away from his best friend |
| B．relax himself for a while |
| C．reduce his sorrow for the break |
| D．show that he is independent |
Why does the author want to end his relationship with Cigarette?
| A．Because he wants to be more healthy. |
| B．Because they are going through difficult times. |
| C．Because his family and friends no longer like him. |
| D．Because he is going on a trip. |
Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything—tutors, cards, special learning centers—in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic(天主教的) school.
After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn’t kiss his mother hello. Instead，he went to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word. In no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time，day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.
Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mom looked at it and to her surprise，little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and asked, “Son, what was it? Was it the nuns(修女)? ”
Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head, “No. ”
“Well then,” she asked again，“WHAT was it?”
Little Tommy looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed(钉) to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t joking. ”Tommy’s mother felt surprised that his son____.
| A．was still the same as usual |
| B．ate so much at dinner |
| C．kissed her hello after school |
| D．worked hard but said little |
The underlined phrase “hitting the books” means “_______” in Chinese.
| A．用功 | B．捶书 | C．发泄 | D．振作 |
The last sentence in the passage shows that____.
| A．Tommy felt sorry for the man |
| B．Tommy was afraid of being nailed |
| C．Tommy didn’t like the plus sign |
| D．Tommy liked playing jokes on others |
From the passage, we can infer that____.
| A．teachers should be strict with their students |
| B．mistakes might do good sometimes |
| C．a catholic school is much better than other ones |
| D．nuns are good at helping children with their math |
“Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t joking.” We know that “the man” here is_____________
| A．one of Tommy’s classmates | B．a nun |
| C．Jesus Christ (耶稣基督) | D．a teacher |
This is not a typical summer camp. Michelle Pawlaw and eight other teenage girls are participating in the three—day camp offered by the Arlington County Fire Department located just outside Washington. Firefighter Clare Burley is in charge of the program, who said the purpose is to try to get young women interested in considering the fire service as a career.
The free-of-charge, overnight camp is designed to let the girls experience what firefighters do to protect the community. That includes some rigorous activities such as moving a fire victim. “I didn’t think I could pull that 170 pound body with a friend, but I was actually able to do it.” she said.
They take classes and learn how to climb the ladder on a fire truck, operate emergency tools and rescue an injured person. They also do their share of cleaning the firehouse and the equipment.
“Every week without fail on a Saturday, the job is to wash all the equipment. And we wanted the girls to see this is what we do. This is a typical day in a firehouse,” she said.
Firefighting is still a male-dominated service, but Burley says with 22 women on its force of 320 the Arlington County Fire Department is above the national average of 4.5 percent. She joined the department seven years ago.
“We do everything that the guys do to the same standard. We are tested to the same standard. We are expected to operate at the same standard,” she said.
Most of the girls say they had never thought about becoming a firefighter. but the camp was a great learning experience.” I think it is definitely not a job that only men can do. Women can do it just as well as men can,” said Michelle Pawlaw.What’s the purpose of the summer camp?
| A．To tell the girls how to put firefighting knowledge into practice. |
| B．To teach the girls what to do when caught in fire. |
| C．To provide the girls with a typical summer camp. |
| D．To attract more girls to take firefighting as a career. |
What can we infer from Paragraph 5?
| A．Arlington County Fire Department is in the lead in employing women firefighters. |
| B．Arlington County Fire Department is the first to employ women firefighters. |
| C．More and more women are ready to join the fire department. |
| D．No women ever want to perform the firefighting service. |
What can we infer from Michelle’s words in the last paragraph?
| A．She has determined to join the firefighters in the future. |
| B．She will persuade her fellow students to join in the camp. |
| C．She realizes that women can also be good firefighters. |
| D．She decides that she’ll join in the camp again later. |
What can we learn about the summer camp according to the passage?
| A．American fire departments often hold such events. |
| B．It is offered by Arlington County Fire Department. |
| C．The girls spent their night in the summer camp, which lasted 3 days. |
| D．It is very popular among American girl students. |
A new generation addiction(着迷,迷恋) is quickly spreading all over the world. Weboholism, a twentieth century disease, affects people from different ages. They surf the net, use e-mail and speak in chat rooms. They spend many hours on the computer, and it becomes a compulsive (强迫的,难以抑制的) habit. They cannot stop, and it affects their lives.
Ten years ago, no one thought that using computers could become compulsive behavior that could affect the social and physical life of computer users. This obsessional behavior has affected teenagers and collage students. They are likely to log on computers and spend long hours at different websites.
They become hooked on computer and gradually their social and school life is affected by this situation. They spend all free time surfing and don’t concentrate on homework, so this addiction influences their grades and success at school. Because they can find everything on websites, they hang out there. Moreover, this addiction to websites influences their social life.
They spend more time in front of computers than with their friends. The relation with their friends changes. The virtual (虚拟的）life becomes more important than their real life. They have a new language that they speak in chat rooms and it causes cultural changes in society.
Because of the change in their behavior, they begin to isolate themselves from society and live with their virtual friends. They share their emotions and feelings with friends who they have never met in their life. Although they feel confident of the computer, they are not confident with real live friends they have known all their life. It is a problem for the future. This addictive behavior is beginning to affect all the world.The main idea of the passage is about .
| A．the cause of weboholism. |
| B．the advantage of weboholism |
| C．the popularity of weboholism |
| D．the influence of weboholism |
The underlined word “obsessional” in the second paragraph most probably means.
| A．attractive | B．addictive |
| C．professional | D．potential |
We can infer from the passage that .
| A．weboholism has the greatest effect on teenagers. |
| B．students can hardly balance real and virtual life. |
| C．people are addicted to games on the Internet. |
| D．virtual life is more vivid and attractive anyway. |
Which of the following is NOT true of weboholism?
| A．It contributes to the development of the web. |
| B．The chat room language may change social culture. |
| C．The problem will be getting more and more serious later. |
| D．People addicted to the web often become inactive in real life. |