People are being invited to sit down to eat with their neighbors in a nationwide lunch party designed to promote community spirit. The Big Lunch is the idea of the Eden Project in Cornwall. It aims to persuade people up and down the country to hold street lunch parties.
Tens of thousands of vegetables, fruits and flowers were used to construct a giant 2,000-square-foot lunch invitation in London’s Convent Garden. More than 9,000 cauliflowers and 800 bananas were used.
According to the organizers, people who decide to take part in the activity will get support from large companies which will supply many of the necessities, including plants to be given out to people to grow. The organizers think that the Big Lunch is a great opportunity for people to get together and spend time with their neighbors, friends and families. Events like this also help build strong communities. People can show their talents, get over their embarrassment, shake hands and get to know their neighbors, and realize that the neighborhood where they live can be a great source of happiness and enjoyment.
The Eden Project’s leader, Tim Smith, says, “It’s a good way to face this recession. Imagine a day on which millions of us, throughout the UK, sit down to have lunch together with our neighbors in the middle of our streets, around our tower blocks, and on every patch of common ground. We’ll have cooked our own food, made our own entertainment, and created our own decorations. It will be a day to share bread with our neighbors, and put a smile on Britain’s face.”
1. The Big Lunch aims to _____.
A. persuade people to eat healthy food B. encourage people to cook at home
C. help poor people in the community D. develop community spirit
2. Which of the following is false?
A. Large companies will give participants enough money to hold the lunch parties.
B. The Big Lunch may be a good opportunity to show talents and make friends.
C. The Big Lunch is a nationwide activity designed by The Eden Project.
D. The giant lunch invitation in London used a lot of vegetables, fruits and flowers.
3. Big Lunch is a good opportunity for people to _____.
A. enjoy free food B. have fun with neighbors and families
C. shop on the street D. eat without cooking
4. The underlined word “recession” in the last paragraph probably means_____.
A. nice environment B. grand ceremony
C. rapid progress D. economic decline
If you’re planning on traveling, there are a few simple rules about how to make life easier both before and after your journey.
First of all, always check and double-check departure (行程) time. It is amazing how few people really do this carefully. Once I arrived at the airport a few minutes after ten. My secretary had got the ticket for me and I thought she had said that the plane left at 10:50. When I arrived at the airport, the clerk at the departure desk told me that my flight was closed. Therefore, I had to wait three hours for the next one and missed an important meeting.
The second rule is to remember that even in this age of credit cards, it is still important to have at least a little of the local currency (货币) with you when you arrive in a country. This can be necessary if you are flying to a place few tourists normally visit. A few years ago I was sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma. I flew there from London via (经由) Dallas, with very little time to change planes in between. I arrived there at midnight and the bank at the airport was closed. The only way to get to my hotel was by taxi and because I had no dollars, I offered to pay in pounds instead.
“Listen! I only take real money!” the driver said angrily. Luckily I was able to borrow a few dollars from a clerk at the hotel, but it was very embarrassing (令人难堪的).
The third and last rule is to find out as much as you can about the weather at your destination before you leave. I feel sorry for some of my workmates who travel in heavy suits and raincoats in May, when it is still fairly cool in London or Manchester, to places like Athens, Rome or Madrid, where it is already beginning to get quite warm during the day.
40. According to the passage, it’s obvious that ______.
A. the author learns some rules of traveling from his own experience
B. the author doesn’t plan his trips or journeys carefully
C. Englishmen like to wear heavy suits wherever they travel
D. the American taxi driver never travels to England
41. What should you make sure first before setting off?
A. When you will leave.B. Where you will go.
C. How you will travel. D. Whom you will go with.
42. What does the underlined word “there” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. London. B. Manchester. C. Tulsa. D. Dallas.
43. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The author tells people to choose warm places as their travel destinations.
B. You should remember to take credit cards when traveling.
C. You should know more about the weather of the place you’ll visit.
D. You should take enough change when you travel to another country.
第二部分：阅读理解（共20小题; 每小题2分,满分40分）
Around six weeks ago, Kaileen came running into the house, just getting off the bus from school. She was all excited about a story about homeless pets because of Hurricane (飓风) Katrina and all that was going on to help them. She said that this information came from her animal newspaper (your KIND News). Kaileen has a great love and compassion (同情心) for animals, so her excitement did not surprise me. Her next ideas, however, did. She said that we should go around right then to our neighbors and collect all their change to send to the animal shelters (保护所).
I thought this was a school project, but in fact, it was not. This was what Kaileen wanted to do on her own! Well, it warmed me all over. To see your child so willing to help others just lets you feel that maybe you had done something right in raising (养育) her.
Anyway, I told her to make a card and send it out to our neighbors first. With the help of her older brother, Kaileen soon made a lovely card that asked our neighbors to help these pets by giving their spare change. She gave them a few days and a date she would come by to pick up any donations (捐赠).
Well, I had to go out and buy a donation box. Kaileen collected $279.50!!! I just thought you would like to know how KIND News had touched a little one’s heart and given her the idea to show her compassion for animals. Thank you — we really enjoy your paper.
36. The passage is probably taken from ______.
A. a report about a warm-hearted girl
B. an advertisement for an animal shelter
C. a thank-you letter to a newspaper
D. a donation program for homeless pets
37. What was the author’s feeling about Kaileen’s idea?
A. Pleased and excited.
B. Surprised and moved.
C. Tired and sad.
D. Worried and angry.
38. From the passage we learn that KIND News ______.
A. collects donations for homeless people
B. sets up many shelters for homeless animals
C. tells children how to keep pets healthy
D. encourages children to help homeless pets
39. We can infer that the passage is written by Kaileen’s ______.
A. parent B. teacher C. brother D. neighbor
Making lists is relaxing. It dictates the shape of the immediate future; it calms you down (it’s OK, it’s on a list somewhere) and it makes you feel good when you cross something off List-making is standard practice in therapy for depression). It might even help you to get things done too. The more you have to do, the more you need a list and few people with high-powered jobs get by without them. Women always think they’re better at lists than men. Men tend to have tasks which they assemble ’into Action Plans whereas women just have lists of Things To Do.
James Oliver, psychologist, has created his own “time management matrix (模式)”. He writes a list of things to do and then organizes them into categories: things that have to be done straight away, other things that it would be good to do today, things that are important but haven’t got to be done immediately and things that are less urgent but that he doesn’t want to forget. “Using categories to order the world is the way the human mind works,” he says. “After that, you should divide things into levels of importance.” But he also warns, “If people get too absorbed in making lists, it doesn’t work. They have too many categories and lose their ability to decide which is the most important.”
It’s all a question of what works best for you, whether it’s a tidy notebook, a packet of Post-it notes or the back of your hand. Having tried all these, student Kate Rollins relies on a computerized list, which is printed out each morning. “My electronic organizer has changed my life,” she says. “Up to now, I’ve always relied on my good memory, but now that I’m working and studying, I find I’ve got too much to keep in my head.”
So what are you waiting for? No, you’re not too busy to make today the first day of your upgraded time-managed life. In fact, there’s no better time than the present to begin to take increased control of your work and life. So, get out your pencil and pen and make a list. The main purpose of making lists is to .
| A．help map out one’s future | B．divide things into levels of importance |
| C．treat certain diseases such as depression | D．organize one’s work and life reasonably |
We can learn from the passage that.
| A．good memory helps in list making | B．too much listing might be misleading |
| C．women usually make a lot more lists than men | D．people with high-powered jobs make lists most |
In this passage the author intends to.
| A．suggest a way of raising one’s living standard | B．introduce some ways of business management |
| C．urge people to develop the habit of listing | D．warn people not to rely on their memory |
The oldest and hardest cow beef may be made as tender and tasty as young and choice met. ”This declaration was made by the French physicist Denis Papin in book published in 1681, which described his “New Digester” or pressure cooker. It was a cast iron pot with an air-tight lid, which allowed liquids to boil at a higher temperature than usual, and so it cooked food in a quarter of the time. The food was cooked by pressurized steam being forced through it at about 121℃. All pressure cookers were made of cast iron until 1905, when the first aluminum model was made in America. In 1938, Alfred Vischer, a man from Chicago, U. S. A., designed a simple interlocking pan and lid, and an improved pressure-tight seal（密封）—a replaceable rubber sealing ring. When Vischer’s patent（专利）expired in 1954, many companies entered the field, and the rapid pressure cooker became popular with people with people who had little time to cook or had to supply food for unexpected guests. From the passage we can learn pressure cooker made of cast iron lasted at least ____years.
| A．300 | B．200 | C．90 | D．60 |
Which of the following shows the correct order?
a.Denis Papin called his invention “New Digester”.
b.It began to be widely used by common families.
c.Instead of cast iron, it was first made of aluminum.
d.The first pressure cooker was invented in France.
e.Alfred Vischer greatly improved its design.
f.Vischer’s patent came to an end.
g. Many other companies began to produce it.
| A．d, a, e, c, g, f, b | B．a, d, c, b, e, f, g |
| C．d, a, c, e, f, g, b | D．g, e, a, e, d, f, b |
In the writer’s opinion, the best advantage of a pressure cooker is that_______.
| A．the oldest and hardest cow beef can be made tender and tasty |
| B．it allows liquids to boil at a higher temperature than usual |
| C．it can help people to supply food for unexpected guests |
| D．it helps people to spend much less time in cooking |
The best title of this passage may possibly be _______.
| A．New Digester | B．Pressure Cooker | C．Favorite Cook | D．The History of Cooker |
Last summer I went through a training program and became a literacy volunteer（扫盲志愿者）. The training I received, though excellent, did not tell me how it was to work with a real student, however. When I began to discover what other people’s lives were like because they could not read, I realized the true importance of reading.
My first student Marie was a 44-year-old single mother of three. In the first lesson, I found out she walked two miles to the nearest supermarket twice a week because she didn’t know which bus to take. When I told her I would get her a bus schedule. She told me it would not help because she could not read it. She said she also had difficulty once she got to the supermarket, because she couldn’t always remember what she needed. Since she did not know words, she could not write out a shopping list. Also, she could only recognize items by sight, so if the product had a different label, she would not recognize it as the product she wanted.
As we worked together, learning how to read built Marie’s self-confidence, which encouraged her to continue in her studies. She began to make rapid progress and was even able to take the bus to the supermarket. After this successful trip, she reported how self-confident she felt. At the end of the program, she began helping her youngest son, Tony, a shy first grader, with his reading. She sat with him before he went to sleep and together they would read bedtime stories. When his eyes became wide with excitement as she read, pride was written all over her face, and she began to see how her own hard work in learning to read paid off. As she described this experience, I was proud of myself as well. I found that helping Marie to build her self-confidence was more rewarding than anything I had ever done before.
As a literacy volunteer, I learned a great deal about teaching and helping others. In fact, I may have learned more from the experience than Marie did.What did the author do last summer?
| A．She worked in the supermarket. |
| B．She helped someone to learn to read. |
| C．She gave single mothers the help they needed. |
| D．She went to a training program to help a literacy volunteer. |
Why didn’t Marie go to the supermarket by bus at first?
| A．Because she liked to walk to the supermarket. | B．Because she lived far away from the bus stop. |
| C．Because she couldn’t afford the bus ticket. | D．Because she couldn’t find the right bus. |
How did Marie use to find the goods she wanted in the supermarket?
| A．She knew where the goods were in the supermarket. | B．She asked others to take her to the right place. |
| C．She managed to find the goods by their looks. | D．She remembered the names of the goods. |
Which of the following statements is true about Marie?
| A．Marie could do things she had not been able to do before. |
| B．Marie was able to read stories with the help of her son. |
| C．Marie decided to continue her studies in school |
| D．Marie paid for her own lessons. |