Having returned from her round trip,the angry woman stood outside the ticket office of the station."The railway owes me￡12,"she said to Harry Jenks,the young man working at the office. "You sold me a ticket for May 22nd, but there was no ship from Jersey that night. So my daughter and I had to stay in a hotel.It cost me ￡12."
Harry was worried. He remembered selling the woman a return ticket. "Come into the office, Madam," he said politely."I'll just check the Jersey timetable for May 22nd."
The woman and her little girl followed him inside.She was quite right,as Harry soon discovered.There was no sailing on May 22nd.How could he have made such a careless mistake? He shouldn't have sold her a ticket for that day.Wondering what to do,he smiled at the child."You look sunburnt,"he said to her. "Did you have a nice holiday in Jersey?"
"Yes,"she answered,shyly. "The beach was lovely.And I can swim too!"
"That's fine,"said Harry. "My little girl can't swim a bit yet.Of course,she's only three…"
"I'm four,"the child said proudly. "I'll be four and a half." Harry turned to the mother. "I remember your ticket,Madam,"he said."But you didn't get one for your daughter,did you?"
"Er,well——"the woman looked at the child. "I mean...she hasn't started school yet. She's only four."
"A four-year-old child must have a ticket,Madam.A child's return ticket to Jersey costs…let me see…￡13.50. So if the railway pays your hotel,you will owe￡1.50. The law is the law,but since the fault was mine…"
The woman stood up,took the child's hand and left the office.
1.Harry was worried because _____________.
A.the woman was angry with him
B.he had not done his work properly
C.the Jersey timetable was wrong
D.the little girl didn't have a return ticket
2.Harry started talking to the little girl_________.
A.because he was in difficulty and did not know what to do
B.because he had a little girl about the same age as this girl
C.because he wanted to be friendly to the little girl who looked so nice
D.when he suddenly readlized that he could find a way out from the litte girl
3.When Harry said,"The law is the law,but since the fault was mine…,"he meant that_________.
A.they must follow it without other choice,even though the fault was his
B.he had to be strict with the woman because of the law, although he didn't want to
C.the woman had to pay him￡1.50 and the railway would pay for the hotel
D.she should pay￡1.50, but as he had made a mistake,she could go without paying
4.The woman left the office without saying anything because .
A.she wanted to go home and get money for the child's ticket
B.she was so angry that she didn't want to have anything more to do with the young man
C.she was moved by Harry's kindness
D.she knew she would have to pay the railway if she insisted
Everyone knows about straight—A students. We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge of the Nerds(《菜鸟大反攻》)，a comedy film satirizing(讽刺)social life in college. They get high grades，all right，but only by becoming dull laborers，their noses always stuck in a book. They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports.
How，then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School. She also sings in the school singing group, serves on the students’ union and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she has kept up A’s in every subject. Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico，was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque. He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair，and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station. Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony，he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes，plus rewarding points for A’s in two college-level course.
How do super—achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer “Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students,” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super—achieving students “Knowing how to make the most of your innate(天生的)abilities counts far more. Much more.”
In fact，Walberg says，students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ. For them，learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down.
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either．“it’s not how long you sit there with the books open．”said one of the many—A students we interviewed. “It’s what you do while you’re sitting.” Indeed，some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates. The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn.What can we conclude from the first paragraph?
| A．Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students |
| B．People have unfavorable impression on straight—A students |
| C．Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films |
| D．Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society |
What will be talked about after the last paragraph?
| A．The interviews with more students |
| B．The role IQ plays in learning well |
| C．The techniques to be better learners |
| D．The achievements top students make |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．IQ is more important than hard work in study |
| B．The brightest students can never get low glades |
| C．Top students certainly achieve all-around developments |
| D．Students with average IQ can become super-achievers |
A Japanese toy maker declares that they have developed a gadget that translates dog barks into human language and plans to begin selling the gadget——under the name of Bowlingual——in U. S. pet stores and gift shops this summer.
Tokyo-based Takara Co. Ltd. says about 300, 000 of the dog translator gadgets have been sold since it was on sale in Japan late last year. It is forecasting far bigger sales once an English language translation for dogs comes to America in August. The United States is home to about 67 million dogs, more than six times the number in Japan.
"We know that the Americans love their dogs so much, so we don't think they will mind spending $ 120 on this product, " the Takara marketing manager said during an interview at a recent pet products conference in Atlanta.
Regarded as one of the coolest inventions of 2002 by Time magazine, Bowlingual is made up of a 3 - inch long wireless microphone that is fastened to a dog collar and sends out sounds to a small console (控制台) that is connected to a database (数据库). The console divides each bark into six emotional types——happiness, sadness, disappointment, anger, threat and desire——and shows common phrases, such as "You're ticking me off," that fit the dog's emotional state.
Takara says it has spent millions of dollars developing the gadget in cooperation（合作）with famous sound experts and animal behaviorists.
One thing that does appear certain is that the markets for animal translation products will likely remain a dog's world since Takara has no plans to develop a similar gadget for cats. "They are too unpredictable (反复无常) , " the marketing manager said.This passage mainly tells us that Bowlingual ___________.
| A．was invented in Japan | B．has developed quickly |
| C．will be sold in America | D．sells well for its price |
The underlined word "they" in the last paragraph refers to ___________.
| A．markets | B．products | C．plans | D．cats |
From the passage, we can see that Takara Co. Ltd. is ___________ the sale of its new product.
| A．proud of | B．satisfied with | C．confident of | D．worried about |
Mini Book Excerpts（节选）
Biography
When Salinger learned that a car park was to be built on the land, the middle-aged writer was shocked and quickly bought the neighboring area to protect it… The townspeople never forgot the rescue and came to help their most famous neighbor.
J. D. Salinger：A Life by Kenneth Slawenski（Random House,$27）
Mystery（疑案小说）
“You’re a smart boy. Benny’s death was no accident, and you’re the only one who saw it happen. Do you think the murderer should get away with it ? ” The boy was staring stubbornly (固执地；倔强地) at his lap again.
A thought suddenly occurred to Annika, “Did you …You recognized the man in the car, didn’t you?”
The boy hesitated, twisting his fingers, “Maybe,” he said quietly.
Red Wolf by Liza Marklund（Atria Books, $25. 99）
Short Stories
She wants to say to him what she has learned, none of it in class: Some women are born stupid, and some women are too smart for their own good. Some women are born to give , and some women only know how to take. Some women learn who they want to be from their mothers, some who they don’t want to be. Some mothers suffer so their daughters won’t. Some mothers love so their daughters won’t.
You Are Free by Danzy Senna（Riverhead Books,$15）
Humor
Do your kids like to have fun? Come to Fun Times! Do you like to watch your kids having fun? Bring them to Fun Times! Fun Times!’s “amusement cycling” is the most fun you can have, legally, in the United States right now. Why spend thousands of dollars flying to Disney World when you can spend less than half of that within a day’s drive of most cities?
Happy: And Other Bad Thoughts by Larry Doyle（Ecco,$14. 99）If the readers want to know about the life of Salinger , they should buy the book published by.
| A． Ecco | B．Random House | C．Riverhead Books | D．Atria Books |
The book Happy :And Other Bad Thoughts is intended for.
| A．young children | B．Disney World workers |
| C．middle school teachers | D．parents with young children |
Which book describes women with characters of their own?
A. You Are Free B. J. D. Salinger: A Life
C. Happy: And Other Bad ThoughtsD. Red Wolf After finishing the book Red Wolf, the readers would learn that .
| A．the murderer got away with the crime |
| B．Benny died of an accident |
| C．the boy helped arrest the murderer |
| D．Annika carried out the crime |
The law has a great many rules, showing when and how far a man is to be punished, or if he should be made to hand over money or property to his neighbors, and so on. These rules are contained in books. A lawyer learns them mainly by reading books.
He begins by doing little else than reading, and after he has prepared himself by three years’ study, still, he has to, almost every day, read more about some new questions which he has to answer.
The power to use books, then, is a special skill which a would-be lawyer ought to possess. He ought to have enough flexibility（灵活性）to make it easy for him to collect ideas from printed words. He ought to have some readiness to find what a book contains, and something of an instinct（直觉）for where to look for what he wants.
But although this is the power which he will first feel in need of, it is not the most important. A lawyer does not study law to recite it; he studies it to use it and act upon the rules which he has learned in real life. His business is to try cases in court and to advise people what to do in order to keep out or get out of trouble. The first thing a law student has to do is to _______.
| A．read books | B．hand over money |
| C．practice law | D．answer questions |
The major business of a lawyer is ________.
| A．to discuss the material he has read |
| B．to advise people who have law problems |
| C．to learn about real life |
| D．to study the law |
What is the most important to a lawyer?
| A．To possess a lot of books. |
| B．To have enough flexibility when collecting ideas from printed words. |
| C．To be able to quickly find out what a book contains. |
| D．To be able to use his book knowledge in the right way in his future business. |
According to the passage, a good lawyer should know how to ________.
| A．understand and use what he reads |
| B．be effective in everything |
| C．collect ideas from different sources |
| D．be effective in court |
Just as the English language has changed quickly in the previous century, so has the use of it.
After the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was founded in 1927, the particular style of speech of the BBC announcers was recognized as standard English or Received Pronunciation (RP) English. Now, most people still consider that the pronunciation and delivery of BBC announcers is the clearest and most understandable spoken English.
English has had a strong relationship with classes and social positions. However, since the Second World War there has been a clear change of attitude towards speech snobbery(自我优越感), and marks of class distinction(区别) such as styles of speech have been gradually diminishing, especially in the younger generation.
By the end of the 1960s, it had become clear that it was not necessary to speak standard English or even correct grammar to become popular, successful and rich. The fashionable speech of the day was no longer the special right of a special class but rather a defiant(反抗的) expression of classlessness.
The greatest single influence of the shaping of the English language in modern times is the American English. Over the last 25 years the English used by many people, particularly by those in the media, advertising and show business, has become more and more mid-Atlantic in style, delivery and accent.
In the 1970s, fashion favored careless pronunciation and a language full of jargon, slang and “in” words, a great quantity of which couldn’t be understood by the outside world. What is considered modern and fashionable in Britain today is often not the kind of English taught in schools and colleges.Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The use of the English language has not changed much in the previous century. |
| B．BBC announcers speak standard English. |
| C．English has no relationship with classes and social positions now. |
| D．Young people don’t like class distinction. |
What does the author imply by saying “there has been a clear change of attitude towards speech snobbery”?
| A．Everyone speaks English as the BBC announcers do. |
| B．There has been a great change of attitudes towards the status of English. |
| C．Most people don’t believe the way of speaking by BBC announcers is much better than that of other people. |
| D．It is necessary to speak standard English with correct grammar. |
According to the author, there was a trend in the US for young people ________.
| A．to speak standard English |
| B．to speak English with grammatical mistakes |
| C．to speak old English |
| D．to speak English without class distinction |
It can be concluded from the passage that________.
| A．standard English is taught only in schools and colleges |
| B．there has been a great change in the English language in the previous century |
| C．the English language has not been influenced by the American English in the last 25 years |
| D．young people are defiant because they refuse to speak standard English |