This is why Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo came back.
The Chinese pair finally won the Olympic gold medal that eluded （避开） them for so many years Monday night, a prize so compelling it lured（诱使）them out of the cozy life of a happily retired married couple. It wasn’t the best skate of their career, but it was good enough for gold and that was all that mattered.
Their score of 216. 57 points was more than three points ahead of teammates Pang Qing and Tong Jian. When Shen and Zhao finished their routine, Zhao knelt to the ice, burying his face in his hands while his wife patted his back. He pumped his fist several times while she smiled, her grin was so bright it could light up the entire arena（圆形运动场）.
Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany dropped to the bronze medal after a flawed free skate.
It’s the first time since 1960 that a Russian or Soviet couple isn’t atop the Olympic platform, ending one of the longest winning streaks in sports. Perhaps even more shocking, the Russians are leaving empty - handed, with no medals of any color.
Shen and Zhao, bronze medalists at the last two Olympic Games, retired after winning their third title in 2007. They got married, and lived the easy life of retirees, doing shows and appearances. But something was missing--that gold medal.
1. Which statement is WRONG according to paragraph one?
A. It was the Chinese pair who eventurelly won the Olympic gold medal.
B. The Chinese pair performed the excellent skate of their career.
C. The Chinese pair have been living a comfortable life.
D. The Chinese pair don’t get along well with each other.
2. From paragraph two and three, we can learn ________.
A. Shen and Zhao’s efforts paid off at last
B. Shen was so tired that she knelt to the ice
C. Pang and Tong won the bronze medal
D. The German pair ranked the second place
3. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “grin” ?
A. wide smile B. happy laugh C. excited feeling D. happiness
4. What can we know from the passage?
A. The Soviet pair also got some medals in the Olympic.
B. Shen and Zhao retired in 2007 and got married after they got their silver medal.
C. It’s the gold medal that lures them back to the Olympic.
D. The German pair always performed well during the competition.
As a tour guide, Ali is trying his best to introduce this unique land to us, with his rich knowledge and solid historical background. Whether in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, or at the well-known underground city, a strong sense of pride in Turkey can be found everywhere in his descriptions and explanations.
Turkey’s location in the Middle East brings many concerns, especially relating to security, for foreign tourists. And every time foreign tourists change their fixed and somewhat negative views about Turkey on his tour, Ali feels that all his efforts have paid off.
Ali Dede Coskuner, Tour Guide, said, “Guide makes bridge of peace, tourism brings peace to the world.”
Aside from work, the biggest comfort for Ali is his happy family, with three sons and a loving wife. But as a tour guide, his time with his family is destined to be very limited.
Ali Dede Coskuner said, “Tour guide is no timing; you don’t have fixed time to work. Sometimes, you have to work for 14—15 hours; sometimes, even more than 18 hours, and you can’t say ‘I am tired.’”
Despite these challenges, Ali always sees the beauty of the job that he does. And his smiling face always makes him an affable host for his guests.
According to Ali, there are about 10 thousand tour guides throughout Turkey, with only five thousand who are active. Because of certain legal loopholes(漏洞), not all the tour guides are licensed professionals, which results in some unfair competition. At the same time, tour guiding in Turkey is still not recognized as a profession, so guides are not included in the country’s insurance system.Ali is always taking pride in _____.
| A．his rich knowledge and solid historical background |
| B．changing foreign tourists’fixed and negative views about his country on his tour |
| C．spending little time with his family |
| D．his loving wife bringing his three sons up |
Which of the following words can be used in place of the underlined word “affable” in the sixth paragraph?
| A．open-minded. | B．honest. | C．approachable. | D．easy. |
Ali is not satisfied with _____.
| A．his descriptions and explanations about the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations |
| B．his job as a guide |
| C．the policy that guides are not included in the country’s insurance system |
| D．his working for 14—15 hours sometimes |
Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) lies in the west of Yueyang City, near the Dongting Lake. It was first built for soldiers to rest on and watch out. In the Three Kingdoms Period, Lu Su, General of Wu State, trained his soldiers here.
In 716, Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty, General Zhang Shuo was sent to defend at Yuezhou and he rebuilt it into a tower named South Tower, and then Yueyang Tower. In 1044, Song Dynasty, Teng Zijing was stationed at Baling Jun, the ancient name of Yueyang City. In the second year, he had the Yueyang Tower repaired and had poems by famous poets written on the walls of the tower. Fan Zhongyan, a great artist and poet, was invited to write the well-known poem about Yueyang Tower. In his A Panegyric of the Yueyang Tower (《岳阳楼记》), Fan writes: “Be the first to worry about the troubles across the land, the last to enjoy universal happiness.” His words have been well-known for thousands of years and made the tower even better known than before.
The style of Yueyang Tower is quite special. The main tower is 21.35 meters high with 3 stories, flying eave (屋檐) and wood construction, the helmet-roof of such a large size is a rarity (罕见之事) among the ancient architectures in China.
Entering the tower, you’ll see “Dongting is the water of the world, Yueyang is the tower of the world”. Moving on, there is a platform that once used as the training ground for the navy of Three-Kingdom Period general Lu Su. To its south is the Huaifu Pavilion(亭) in honor of Du Fu. Stepping out of the Xiaoxiang Door, the Xianmei Pavilion and the Sanzui Pavilion can be seen standing on two sides. In the garden to the north of the tower is the tomb of Xiaoqiao, the wife of Zhou Yu.The passage mainly tells us _____.
| A．the history of Yueyang Tower |
| B．some information about Yueyang Tower |
| C．the architecture style of Yueyang Tower |
| D．Yueyang Tower is a good place to see |
In Three-Kingdom Period, Yueyang Tower was used as _____.
| A．a place where rich people enjoyed themselves |
| B．the symbol of the Three Kingdoms |
| C．a place where educated people often met |
| D．an army-training place |
Yueyang Tower was once named _____.
| A．South Tower | B．Xianmei Tower | C．Sanzui Tower | D．Baling Tower |
When did Yueyang Tower become more famous?
| A．In 1045. | B．In 716. |
| C．In the Three-Kingdom Period. | D．In the Tang Dynasty. |
Which of the following has nothing to do with Yueyang Tower?
| A．Huaifu Pavilion. | B．Xiaoxiang Door. |
| C．Tomb of Du Fu. | D．Tomb of Xiaoqiao. |
Japanese professor Yoji Kimura believes laughter is a weapon that in healthy doses（剂量） can end the world’s wars. To measure it, the expert on communications has invented a machine to chart out laughter—and a new unit of “aH” to calculate it.
“We have found that children laugh more freely, releasing（释放）10 aH per second, which is about twice as much as an adult,” Kimura, a professor at Kansai University in the western city of Osaka, told reporters. “Adults tend to calculate whether it’s appropriate to laugh and under those restraints（克制） they eventually forget how,” he said.
“Laughing is like a restart function on a computer. Laughing freely is very important in the course of human development,” he said.
Kimura, who believes in “a change from a century of wars to a century of humor and tolerance,” has studied the science of laughter for decades in Osaka. In his theory, human laughter is produced in four emotional stages. “I believe there is a circuit（回路） in the human brain that creates laughter,” Kimura said confidently.
To measure laughter, he attaches sensors on the skin of a tested people’s stomach, particularly the diaphragm（横膈膜）, and detects muscle movements. “I have a theory that humor detected in the brain gets directly released through the movement of diaphragm,” he said. By checking the movement of the diaphragm and other parts of the body, it will be possible to see if a person is only pretending to laugh while also telling different types of laughter, Kimura said.
Kimura wants to make the measuring device as small as a mobile phone and possibly market it as a health and amusement device. Kimura said he planned to present his findings this summer to the US-based International Society for Humor Studies, adding that he looked forward to looking at differences in laughter internationally.According to the passage, Professor Yoji Kimura _____.
| A．thinks banning weapon can end wars in the world |
| B．has put his machine calculating laughter into market |
| C．has been studying laughing for many years |
| D．is an expert in people’s health problem |
Why do adults laugh less freely?
| A．Because they are busy with their work. |
| B．Because they are affected by some factors. |
| C．Because they use computers too often. |
| D．Because they don’t think it good to laugh much. |
The measuring device of Yoji Kimura _____.
| A．has functions of a mobile phone |
| B．can make people laugh more |
| C．can recognize different kinds of laughter |
| D．will be popular in the international market soon |
The passage mainly tells us something about _____.
| A．how to measure laughter | B．Yoji Kimura and laughing |
| C．laughing as much as possible | D．a device that is made to measure laughter |
Fresh out of Barnard College, I was hired as a secretary to the editor of Coupon Magazine. Tiny circulation, but a real job. So now I had an income and an apartment in Manhattan—heaven for a young woman from a small town on Long Island.
Like so many women of my generation, I went straight from college to secretarial school to learn speedwriting, despite the fact that I had already co-written a book called New York on $5 a Day. So I learned the ropes, or at least I tried.
As a former lefty(左撇子) turned righty, my handwriting was hard to recognize—so bad that after taking notes, I couldn’t translate it. The magazine was making advertisements, so in letters to the heads of the company which wanted to advertise in our magazine, I was told to offer them the opportunity to place their ads in four colors in our magazine for the price of $10,000. Unknowingly, the “d” in ads became an “s”, and the president of one of those big companies was invited to “have his ass (臀部) in four colors” in our publication.
Guess what? He didn’t like it, and I was fired, but luck showed her face. The editor was looking for a copywriter (广告文字撰稿人) eagerly. I was heading for the door, depressed, when I heard her call out, “You—Joan! Can you write better than you can type?” I said, “Yes, of course.” A copywriter was born.According to the first paragraph, we can know that the author _____.
| A．was satisfied with her job as a secretary |
| B．was an ambitious woman |
| C．was successful at college |
| D．had a dream to become a famous writer |
In which order did Joan do the following things?
a. She was hired as a secretary of a small magazine.
b. She worked as a copywriter.
c. She was fired because of the mistake of spelling.
d. She learned speedwriting at secretarial school.
e. She wrote a book called New York on $5 a Day.
| A．a, b, c, d, e. | B．e, d, a, c, b. |
| C．e, d, b, c, a. | D．d, a, c, b, e. |
According to the passage, we can infer that _____.
| A．the author had talent for writing |
| B．the author was very unlucky |
| C．the author’s parents were very strict with her |
| D．the magazine which the author worked for had no future |
Why did the boss intend to fire the author?
| A．She was a former lefty. |
| B．She didn’t work seriously. |
| C．She made a mistake about the price of the ads. |
| D．Her wrong spelling annoyed a big customer. |
Coolest Hotels in the World
Artau Aragon Towers
The Ariau Amazon Towers hotel lets you sleep in a tree house. Eight towers make up this hotel that offers over 300 rooms. If you really want to get into the spirit, book the Tarzan Suite which is large enough for a big family. You'll be thirty feet up in the air and can travel between the towers through their wooden walkways.
Prices: starting at $300 one night for each person for a regular room and going all the way up to $3000 for the Tarzan Suite.
For more information, visit the website: http://Hwww.ariautowers.com
The Ice Hotel
Every winter in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, a special kind of hotel called the lce Hotel is built. Each year, world-famous artists are invited to design and produce works of art from the ice, many of which can be found in the rooms. You'll have your choice between hot or cold rooms but you will be well advised to stay at least one night in a cold room for a true experience.
Prices: starting at $318 one night for each person for either a cold room or a warm one. For more information, visit the website: http:Hwww.icehotel.com
Propeller Island
Propeller Island City Lodge is a very special hotel that was designed by a German artist. Each room provides you with the possibility of living in a work of art. Every single piece of furniture in the thirty rooms of the hotel has been hand-made and each room is completely different. You'll be able to choose a room based on your own personal tastes.
Prices: starting at just $91 a night, and an additional (另外) person for only 20 extra dollars. For more information, visit the website: http://www.propeller-island.com
For information about other cool hotels In the world, visit the website: http://www.bahamabeachclub.comWhat is special about the Ariau Amazon Towers hotel?
| A．You can sleep in the tree house. | B．You can choose any of the towers. |
| C．It is designed for big families. | D．Every room has a walkway. |
For more persons spending a night in one of these hotels, they have to pay at least
A $111 B. $182 C. $600 D. $636Which website should you visit if you want to find out whether there exists a hotel under the sea?
| A． http://www.icehotel.com | B． http：//www.ariantowers.com |
| C．http://www.propeller-island.com | D．htlp://www.bahamabeachclub.com |
Which hotel would invite artists to come to work every year?
| A．Propeller Bland City Lodge. | B．Arian Amazon Towers. |
| C．The Ice Hotel. | D．Bahama Beach Club. |