C
While they were almost unknown twenty years ago, it seems that mobile phones these days are part of everyone’s life. However, as with other inventions such as the television and the computer, they are a double-edged sword, inviting both supporters and opponents, especially in regard to their use in public places like restaurants and cinemas.
One of the strongest arguments in favor of forbidding mobiles in public places is the trouble they cause to other people. For example, although we are often asked to turn off our phones when in a cinema, the film that we are watching is often interrupted by the sound of at least five rings. To make it even worse, some people insist on continuing their conversation, even though hundreds of people can hear what they say, which often drowns out the voice from the film. As a result, many people would welcome a ban on mobile phones in places where they might disturb other people.
On the other hand, there are a number of arguments against such a ban. It is difficult to stop people bringing with them their mobile phones in public places, making it almost impossible to call for a ban. Some people would see this as an infringement（侵犯）of their rights, while other people would say they need them in case of an emergency. Despite being asked to silence their phones, some people insist on leaving them on.
It seems to me that a ban on mobile phones would not have any result in the end. People will find a way to escape a ban. Nevertheless, people should be discouraged from using them in public places, unless it is highly necessary. They should be made to know that it is bad manners to use them in certain places or at certain times. Of course, there will always be someone who thinks their call is more important than others’ peace and quiet!
53. Why are many people for a ban on the use of mobiles in public places?
A. Because hundreds of people can hear them talk.
B. Because they are asked to turn off their mobiles.
C. Because other people’s peace and quiet is more important.
D. Because many people find a way to escape a ban.
54. Among those who are against a ban, some believe that __________.
A. they can turn off their mobiles when it is necessary
B. it is their right to use their mobiles in public places
C. a ban on mobiles would not have any result
D. they can silence their mobiles when in public places
55. The author of the text thinks that __________.
A. mobiles can be used in case of an emergency in public places
B. mobiles should be turned off in public places
C. mobiles should not be banned in public places
D. it is possible to ban the use of mobiles in public places
56. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. Disadvantages of Mobiles in Public Places
B. Why Not Ban Mobiles in Public Places?
C. Should Mobiles Be Banned in Public Places?
D. Manners for Mobile Users in Public Places
If you don’t think technology can improve your trip, meet Judy Williams. When she and her husband recently checked into Blu Hotel in Zurich, a clerk asked them to sign the dotted line on a room rate hundreds of dollars higher than their online offer.
“It was not a cheap stay,” says Williams, a lawyer from Billings, Mont. But it became more of one after her husband fired up the Booking.com app he’d used to book their room on his smartphone. “As soon as we showed him the cost, he honored it,” Williams says.
Technology may create challenges for travelers but it can also solve them. It’s more than making sure of a hotel cost. The latest Booking.com can help users select hotels by location, make a secure booking and view the confirmed(已确认的) cost so they never need to re-discuss their hotel price.
Another pain point for travelers is traffic that eats away precious vacation time. There’s a new app called Commute which is aimed at users who have to make the same trip every day. But if you’re headed to Los Angeles or Honolulu, where visitors can easily get stuck in hours of heavy traffic, Commute can help.
Just input basic information about your destination and expected leaving time, and the app will start sending you traffic information 15 minutes before you leave. Testing Commute proved to be a challenge for me, because my home address is about 900 miles from my place of work. But if you have only a short distance to travel through a heavily populated area, you can use Commute to avoid traffic jams.
Another source of travel-related problems is money. That’s particularly true when you’re dealing with a foreign currency. The latest Travel Money Tracker helps travelers prevent currency mix-ups. It immediately changes a country’s native currency to yours, so you know exactly how much that Espresso(浓咖啡) in Milan costs in dollars. It can also warn you when you’re overspending, which can sometimes be a problem when you’re on vacation. The only catch, of course, is that you have to remember to record all your purchases.
Taken together, these apps solve some of the most common travel problems. But not all of them. Some things, no smartphone can fix, which means I get to keep my job – for now.What does the writer want to tell through the example of Judy Williams?
| A．The cost of Blu Hotel was higher than that of others. |
| B．The clerk was very friendly and patient. |
| C．The smartphones have many functions. |
| D．Technology can make our trips better. |
Commute is not suitable for those who_________.
| A．have a long journey |
| B．go on the same trip every day |
| C．can easily get stuck in traffic jams |
| D．travel a short distance downtown |
What is the function of Travel Money Tracker?
| A．It tells people how much Espresso costs. |
| B．It changes the native currency to yours. |
| C．It warns people when they are shopping. |
| D．It records all people’s purchases. |
What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To encourage people to travel. |
| B．To introduce some new apps. |
| C．To help people with technology problems. |
| D．To provide people with traveling information. |
When I started a degree in English language, I hadn’t intended to study abroad, not to mention starting learning German. But having recently returned from my year abroad in Germany, I can say that making the effort to learn the language really enriched my experience.
With language translation technology advancing all the time, it’s convenient to rely on Google Translate and smartphone apps without having to learn the language. But a second language shouldn’t be a luxury(奢侈品). Researchers have discovered that much language learning can increase the size of your brain in as little as three months. From my own experience, learning the language lets you travel beyond the well-known tourist paths, gain a real student experience and widen your social network beyond the international circle.
The process of learning German abroad was completely different from my language course at university, where students sat quietly and stumbled(结巴) through spoken exercises. Instead, language learning abroad was energetic and part of my lifestyle – from chatting with sales assistants to preparing speeches with course mates. It meant being part of the local area.
Visiting language exchange cafés – where international and German students meet to improve their European language – was a great way to practice in a relaxed space and meet a wide range of people. Not being afraid to make mistakes is important to learn a language. By giving up that comfortable phrase “Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch!” (I speak only a little German), I made progress and it was praised by friends and locals alike.
Germany has a lively theater scene and learning the language meant I was able to get more entertainment and an understanding of German culture.
Even when it comes to eating out, knowing the language works to your advantage. In more than a few traditional German restaurants, the English menus didn’t contain all the dishes listed on the German menus.
Learning the language has saved me from getting on the wrong train, after last-minute platform changes were announced in German.
So why not learn the local language in your year abroad? It’ll improve your employability while letting you take part fully in local life.What is the purpose of writing this passage?
| A．To share his or her experience of learning a foreign language. |
| B．To tell the readers the advantages of knowing a foreign language. |
| C．To give the readers an understanding of German culture. |
| D．To advise the readers to learn a local language when abroad. |
What is the writer’s opinion about a second language?
| A．It is not popular any longer. |
| B．It costs a lot of money. |
| C．It is practical and useful. |
| D．It demands much brain to learn. |
When a person says “Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch!”, he feels_________.
| A．comfortable about the situation |
| B．afraid to make mistakes |
| C．satisfied with the progress |
| D．confident about himself |
How does the writer develop his or her argument?
| A．By explaining reasons and results. |
| B．By listing the advantages. |
| C．By comparing different methods. |
| D．By providing scientific discoveries. |
If you have seen or heard of the British TV series Downton Abbey, you have probably noticed an “upstairs-downstairs” class system in which the noble people are upstairs, worrying what clothes they should wear for dinner and the poor people are downstairs, working hard to make food and tea. So it’s not hard to tell that people are divided into different classes. British society has changed a lot since the days of Downton Abbey, but the division still exists and the funny accents do, too.
Nowadays, what divides Britons is the so-called “North-South divide”. As you make your way north from the south coast of England, the accent begins to change. The posh “How are you” in parts of the South becomes “Ahhdu” (how do you do) in the Midlands, “reeit” (are you all right) in the North West, “eyyup” (what’s up) in Yorkshire, and “hou’s it gaun” (how’s it going) in Scotland. Besides accents, the economy also changes. The rich southern city of London slowly becomes the North where people general have less money.
So where does the “South” stop being the “South” and the “North” start being the “North”? Well, depending on where someone comes from in Britain, you’ll get a different answer.
“Anywhere above London is ‘the North’,” you might hear a Londoner say. Or if you’re in Scotland, you might hear, “Southern softer!”, talking about a person from Lancashire or Yorkshire, who think of themselves as “hard (tough) Northerners”. “Anywhere south of Manchester is not northern,” you might hear a person from Manchester say.
Many stereotypes (成见) have come from the “North-South Divide”, too. Often, southerners are seen as being rude and snobbish (势利眼的) by northerners. And northerners are often seen as uneducated by southerners.
Today, the career you have and the person you marry don’t depend on where you were born or what class you are from. But as London is getting richer and people are moving to the South for work, the North-South divide is getting bigger. Yet for all that divides us, the truth is, we couldn’t live without each other!The first paragraph serves to _________.
| A．compare the lives of upstairs with those of downstairs |
| B．explain how the class system worked in the past |
| C．attack the unfair class division |
| D．introduce the topic of the passage |
People from North West greet each other by saying _________.
| A．“hou’s it gaun” | B．“reeit” |
| C．“eyyup” | D．“ahhdu” |
From Paragraph 4 we get to know _________.
| A．Scotlanders think Londoners are not strong enough |
| B．Manchester people think Scotland belongs to the South |
| C．Manchester people regard themselves as Northerners |
| D．there is no such thing as “North-South Divide” |
What is the passage mainly talking about?
| A．British accents are different from North to South. |
| B．Class division is getting smaller at present. |
| C．It is about the “North-South Division” and its influence. |
| D．Northerners and Southerners dislike each other in Britain. |
For most South Africans, Nelson Mandela is the father of their nation – many even called him "Tata", a local word for father. It was sometimes forgotten that he was also a real father of six, grandfather of 18, great-grandfather of eight, and husband to three women.
He earned a place in history just like another father of a nation, Mahatma Gandhi. But there was a fundamental difference between these beloved men. While Gandhi was thought to be a depressed family man, Mandela was a strong and loving family man. Even so, Mandela and his family paid dearly for his devotion to his country's freedom.
Mandela himself offered a glimpse into his personal war. "To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy. But it was a joy I had far too little of." he said in April 1992, announcing his separation from Winnie.
In 1944, Nelson Mandela married Evelyn. "I could not give up my life in the struggle," Mandela explained in his autobiography(自传), Long Walk to Freedom, "and she (Evelyn) could not live with my devotion to something other than herself and her family... I never lost my admiration for her, but in the end we could not make our marriage work." They divorced in 1958.
When Evelyn died in 2004, Mandela stood at her graveside with his third wife, Graca. Winnie also attended the funeral.
Mandela married Winnie in 1958. But Winnie bore the hardship of life as Mandela, enduring her husband's 27-year imprisonment. From prison, Mandela wrote some of the greatest love letters to Winnie. "I dust it (your photo) carefully every morning – I even touch your nose with mine to regain the electric current that used to run through my blood whenever I did so."
For many South Africans, it was the end of a fairytale love story when their separation was made public in 1992. "Tensions" had arisen and they had agreed on a separation. The hurt in his words was clear: "Perhaps I was blinded to certain things because of the pain I felt for not being able to play my role as a husband to my wife and a father to my children."
“Unstable(不稳定的) personal lives seemed freedom fighters' destiny(命运),” he said. "When your life is the struggle, as mine was, there is little room left for family. That has always been my greatest regret, and the most painful aspect of the choice I made." The couple divorced in 1996.The author mentioned Mahatma Gandhi in the second paragraph in order to _________.
| A．show the character of Gandhi |
| B．prove Mandela is the great leader |
| C．draw attention to Mandela’s personal life |
| D．honour these two great fathers |
The underlined sentence in the third paragraph shows_________.
| A．Mandela felt regretful about his family life |
| B．Mandela got no joy from his family |
| C．Mandela was not satisfied with his wife Winne |
| D．Mandela preferred to be the father of the nation |
The first wife of Nelson Mandela is _________.
| A．Winnie | B．Evelyn |
| C．Graca | D．not mentioned |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Mandela: not just the father of the nation. |
| B．Mandela: a devoted leader of the nation. |
| C．Mandela: a freedom fighter with deep love. |
| D．Mandela: success and failure. |
The timing of school holidays has always had a lot to do with when a family goes on vacation. For many kids, summer holidays mean spending time outdoors and heading toward water- the local swimming pool, a lake, or the beach.
What people wear to go swimming or sunbathing has changed a great deal since the early 1990s. Do you know what early swimsuits(游泳衣） looked like and what they were made of? The earliest swimsuits covered most of the body and were called “bathing clothes”. They were often made of wool, which made them scratchy（扎人的） and very heavy when they got wet. Newer materials made it possible to make lighter swimsuits. Over time, swimsuits covered less and less of the body. In 1946, the bikini became popular among women.
Summer holidays don’t just mean going to the water. They can also mean going for a bike ride, or a picnic. It all depends how you want to spend your summer days.
If you live or spend your holiday near the water, then fishing, diving and boating are all good possibilities. In summertime, lots of people enjoy playing, picnicking, and just going out with friends on a long summer day until the sun goes down.
A famous song called Summertime from the opera Porgy and Bess describes life’s more relaxed pace in this season, “Summertime...and the living is easy. Fish are jumping...” Ask your parents and older relatives about their summertime memories.What does the first paragraph mainly talk about?
| A．Being near water is great in summer for kids. |
| B．It is great for kids to spend holidays with their family. |
| C．when you should prepare for summer holidays. |
| D．Where you can find water on summer holidays. |
From the passage we can know that_________.
| A．People with “bathing clothes” could swim easily |
| B．The earlier swimsuits were very comfortable to wear |
| C．There are other ways to enjoy summer holidays |
| D．It is easy for a family to arrange summer holidays |
What is summertime like according to the passage?
| A．It is busy | B．It is interesting |
| C．It is simple | D．It is hard |