Zoe Chambers was a successful PR(Public Relations) consultant and life was going well—she had a great job, a beautiful flat and a busy social life in London. Then one evening in June last year, she received a text message telling her she was out of work. “The first two weeks were the most difficult to live through,” she said. “After everything I’d done for the company, they dismissed me by text! I was so angry and I just didn’t feel like looking for another job. I hated everything about the city and my life.”
Then, Zoe received an invitation from an old school friend, Kathy, to come and stay. Kathy and her husband, Huw, had just bought a farm in north-west Wales. Zoe jumped at the chance to spend a weekend away from London, and now, ten months later, she is still on the farm.
“The moment I arrived at Kathy’s farm, I loved it and I knew I wanted to stay,” said Zoe. “Everything about my past life suddenly seemed meaningless.”
Zoe has been working on the farm since October of last year and says she has no regrets. “It’s a hard life, physically very tiring,” she says. “In London I was stressed and often mentally exhausted. But this is a good, healthy tiredness. Here, all I need to put me in a good mood is a hot bath and one of Kathy’s wonderful dinners.”
Zoe says she has never felt bored on the farm. Every day brings a new experience. Kathy has been teaching her how to ride a horse and she has learnt to drive a tractor. Since Christmas, she has been helping with the lambing—watching a lamb being born is unbelievable, she says, “It’s one of the most moving experiences I’ve ever had. I could never go back to city life now.”
1. When working as a PR consultant in London, Zoe thought she lived a ______ life.
A. satisfying B. tough C. meaningless D. boring
2 The most important reason why Zoe went to visit Kathy’s farm is that _________.
A. Zoe lost her job as a PR consultant B. Kathy persuaded her to do so
C. Zoe got tired of the city life D. Zoe loved Wales more than London
3. How does Zoe feel about the country life according to the passage? ______.
A. Tiresome and troublesome B. Romantic and peaceful
C. Mentally exhausting but healthy D. Physically tiring but rewarding
There are many differences between America and China. The biggest difference is traffic rules. In America there are too much more cars than in China. But there are much fewer traffic jams and accidents in America than in China. We hardly see traffic police in the street, but all cars obey strictly traffic rules, and people hardly find that a car does not obey traffic rules in the street.
About American traffic rules, there are many better terms, such as:
1. Stop line: There are stop lines in all crossing without traffic light (some have two stop lines and others have four stop lines). All cars must stop while meeting the stop line.
2. Traffic light: There is traffic light in the crossing of the road. Cars may almost turn every direction. The traffic light can give signal step by step including u-turn. There is a kind of middle lane of turning left. When a car wants to turn left in the road, he may enter into the middle lane of turning left and give a signal of turning left. When he thinks being safe, he may turn left. In many conditions the order of passing is also given very specifically. If people want to change lane or turn, they must look behind and think being safe. Only so, they may do it.
3. Specific item: Such as parking, there are three kinds of lines (their colors are white, blue or red) in the roadside. Every line may park different kinds of cars. There are many streets in some residential areas (住宅区), and there is a kind of rule that any car cannot park at any time or any period time. In every parking, there are some special positions for invalid (伤残的) people.
4. About the priority of passenger and car: At any case, passengers have the priority to cars. And only after passengers have passed the road and got the top of sidestep, cars may go ahead.
In general, traffic rules of America are very specific, convenient, safe and humanizing.Which of the following is NOT the reason why we can hardly see traffic police in the street in America?
| A．Traffic police are not very necessary because few cars break traffic rules. |
| B．The traffic is very clear and there are few traffic jams and accidents in the street. |
| C．There are so many cars in the street that the traffic police can’t be seen. |
| D．The effective traffic rules play an important part in the road safety. |
Why is there a middle lane of turning left on the road?
| A．It is designed for the cars that want to turn left. |
| B．It is very safe to drive there. |
| C．It is very convenient for the traffic police to find the cars that break the rules. |
| D．The cars that want to turn left can easily give a signal of turning left. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．In America, all cars in the crossing must stop when they meet the stop line. |
| B．In America, any car cannot park in the streets in some residential areas. |
| C．If people want to turn, they can obey the guide of the traffic police. |
| D．There are more traffic jams in China. |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．American Traffic Rules |
| B．Differences in Traffic Rules between China and America |
| C．Traffic Jams in America |
| D．American People Who Obey Traffic Rules |
A driver stopped his car on a street side to have a rest. As he lay down in the seat and closed his eyes, a person came up and knocked at the window to ask the time. The driver opened his eyes and looked at his watch: “It’s 8:05,” he said. Then he went to sleep again. But soon he was waken up again because a second person was knocking at the window. “Sir, do you know the time?” he asked. The driver looked at his watch again, and told him it was half past eight.
In this way, the driver thought he could not have a good rest, so he wrote a short note and stuck it on the window for all to see. It said, “I don’t know the time.”
Again, he lay down in the seat for his sleep. A few minutes later, a third person came and began to knock at the window, “Hey, sir,” he said, “It’s a quarter to nine.”Where did the driver sleep?
| A．At the window | B．In the street road |
| C．In his car | D．In his room. |
How long had the driver been there when the third person called him?
| A．40 minutes | B．25 minutes |
| C．50 minutes | D．70 minutes |
Why did the driver write a note and stick it on the window?
| A．Because he didn’t know the time |
| B．Because he didn’t want anybody to trouble him |
| C．Because he needed somebody to wake him up. |
| D．Because he wanted somebody to tell him the time |
More than four out of five people admit to telling little white lies at least once a day and the preferred way of “being economical with the truth” is to use technology such as cellphones, text messages and e-mails, a survey said last Thursday. The research found that “techno-treachery （高科技说谎）” was widespread with nearly 75 percent of people saying gadgets (小器具) made it easier to fib (撒小谎). Just over half of the respondents （被调查者） said using gadgets made them feel less guilty when telling a lie than doing it face to face. The workplace was a favorite location for fibbing with 67 percent of the 1,487 respondents admitting they had lied at work. The top lie was pretending to be ill (43 percent), followed by saying work had been completed when it hadn’t (23 percent). Worryingly for bosses 18 percent said they lied to hide a big mistake. But, employers were not the only ones on the receiving end of dishonest statements. Just over 40 percent of the respondents said they had lied to their families or partners. Key topics to lie about were: buying new clothes or the cost of them (37 percent), how good someone looked in something (35 percent), how much they had eaten (35 percent) and drunk (31 percent) and how much they weighed (32 percent). The underlined phrase “being economical with the truth” probably means______.
| A．telling lies | B．making apologies | C．feeling guilty | D．admitting mistakes |
It can be inferred(推断) from the passage that ______.
| A．employers sometimes lie to their employees, too |
| B．75% of people have ever lied to someone |
| C．without gadgets, people may feel more pressure when telling white lies |
| D．more people lie to their family than to their bosses |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Cell phones make people more likely to lie. |
| B．Some people might lie to their bosses when they are not doing their work well. |
| C．40% of employers admit that they have lied to their families or partners. |
| D．Nearly 1,500 people were questioned in the survey. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．People are getting more likely to lie. |
| B．People tend to fib using gadgets. |
| C．Most people tell white lies at the workplace. |
| D．18% of people lie to their bosses. |
There is an endless supply of stories about sleepwalkers(梦游者). People have been said to climb on roofs, solve mathematical problems, write music, walk through windows, and do murder in their sleep.
In Revere, Massachusetts, a hundred policemen searched for a lost boy who left his home in his sleep and woke up five hours later on a strange sofa in a strange living room, with no idea how he had got there.
At the University of Lowa, a student was reported to have the habit of getting up in the middle of the night and walking three-quarters of a mile to the Lowa River. He would take a swim and then go back to his room to bed.
An American expert on sleep claims(声称) that he has never seen a sleepwalker. He is said to know more about sleep than any other living man, and during the last thirty-five years he has lost a lot of sleep watching people sleep. He says, “Of course, I know that there are sleepwalkers because I have read about them in the newspapers. But none of my sleepers ever walked, and if I were to advertise for sleepwalkers for an experiment, I doubt whether I would get many takers(应征者).”
Sleepwalking, however, is a scientific reality. It is one of those strange things that sometimes look quite fantastic(奇特的). Doctors say that sleepwalking is much more common than is generally supposed. Many sleepwalkers do not try to find help and their sleepwalking is never recorded. Generally speaking, sleepwalkers are people who __________.
| A．do fantastic things during their sleep |
| B．walk through windows |
| C．climb on roofs |
| D．walk in a half-awake state |
It was reported that a boy ________.
| A．was found on a strange sofa, telling how he had got there |
| B．lost his way five hours after he left home |
| C．slept in his own room but woke up in a strange room |
| D．was searched for by policemen when he lost his way |
There was a college student who got into the habit of _______.
| A．walking three-quarters of a mile every day |
| B．getting up in the middle of the night and walking down to the river |
| C．swimming in the Lowa River before going to bed |
| D．walking about before he went to bed |
Why do people think sleepwalking is nothing but a fantastic thing which doesn’t have any explanation?
| A．It is so common that it needn’t be recorded. |
| B．Scientists take no interest in it. |
| C．No records about it have been made. |
| D．Most sleepwalkers do not seek help for their problem. |
The Healthy Habits Survey（调查）shows that only about one third of American seniors have correct habits. Here are some findings and expert advice.
1. How many times did you brush your teeth yesterday?
·Finding：A full 33% of seniors brush their teeth only once a day.
·Step: Remove the 300 types of bacteria in your mouth each morning with a battery-operated toothbrush. Brush gently for 2 minutes, at least twice a day.
2. How many times did you wash your hands or bathe yesterday?
·Finding：Seniors, on average, bathe fewer than 3 days a week. And nearly 30% wash their hands only 4 times a day—half of the number doctors recommend.
·Step：We touch our faces around 3,000 times a day—often inviting germs（病菌）to enter our mouth, nose, and eyes. Use toilet paper to avoid touching the door handle. And, most important, wash your hands often with hot running water and soap for 20 seconds.
3. How often do you think about fighting germs?
·Finding：Seniors are not fighting germs as well as they should.
·Step：Be aware of germs. Do you know it is not your toilet but your kitchen sponge（海绵）that can carry more germs than anything else? To kill these germs, keep your sponge in the microwave for 10 seconds.What is found out about American seniors?
| A．Most of then have good habits. |
| B．Nearly 30% of then bathe three days a week. |
| C．About one third of them brush their teeth only once a day |
| D．All of them are fighting germs better than expected. |
Doctors suggest that people should wash their hands______.
| A．twice a day |
| B．three times a day |
| C．eight times a day |
| D．four times a day |
Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．We should keep from touching our faces. |
| B．A kitchen sponge can carry more germs than a toilet. |
| C．There are less than 300 types of bacteria in the mouth. |
| D．We should wash our hands before touching a door handle. |
The text probably comes from______.
| A．a popular magazine |
| B．a guide book |
| C．a book review |
| D．an official document |