Don’t be surprised when strangers talk to you in Canada! You will find that many Canadians will smile at you as they pass in the street, or say something to you like “Hi!” or “How’s it going?” Just reply with something similar. In the UK the reply would be “I’m fine”, but in Canada they say “I’m good”.
In company, when someone is offering you a second helping of food or more wine, if you don’t want any more, use the same expression— “I’m good”. In this case, it means “No, thank you. I’ve had enough”. Most Canadians don't press you to eat more than you want.
In restaurant, your plate will be cleared away almost immediately you have finished eating. When you go into a shop or store, the shop assistant asks you how you are or if they can help you, it is their way of being friendly and making conversation with the customers.
Canadians eat early and go home early. When you are invited to a Canadian’s home, you may be asked to arrive at 5:30 pm or 6 pm. But guests in Europe don’t expect to arrive until 7:30 pm or 8 pm. Remember to take off your shoes and leave them inside the door without being asked. It’s not a religious custom, but it’s practical. In winter, there can be a lot of snow and dirt on your shoes, once you are in the warm house it melts and falls off, making a mess. Canadians tend to have light colored carpets or hardwood floors.
If you’re invited for dinner, it will be a full sit- down meal. Meat is usually barbecued in the freezing cold of winter. Do take something with you, like a bottle of wine. Arrive on time and don’t stay over 10 pm.
1. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A. |
“I’m good” can mean you do not need more food in Canada. |
| B. |
In Canada, you will meet strangers in the street saying “Hi” to you. |
| C. |
In a Canadian restaurant, the plates will stay at the table until you leave. |
| D. |
Canadians usually say “I’m good” to answer the greeting of “How’s it going?” |
2. If you are invited for dinner in your Canadian friend’s home, ________.
| A. |
you will have a full sit-down meal |
| B. |
you don’t have to bring any gift for the host |
| C. |
you are expected to arrive at 7:30 or 8 pm |
| D. |
you don’t have to take off your shoes when you enter the room |
3. When a Canadian shop assistant says “How are you?” to you, it suggests that _______.
| A. |
they hope to make friends with you |
| B. |
they want to ask you for help |
| C. |
they are very friendly to customers |
| D. |
they are your good friends |
4. What can we learn from the passage?
| A. |
Canadians like dark colored carpets. |
| B. |
In Canada, meat will not be barbecued even in the cold winter. |
| C. |
You will always be asked to eat more food than you want in Canada. |
| D. |
It is usually rude to stay over 10 pm in your Canadian friend’s home. |
5.What would be the best title for this passage?
| A. |
Some customs in Canada |
| B. |
Dinner party rules in Canada |
| C. |
Studying in Canada |
| D. |
Doing business in Canada |
Exploit your parking space
An unused parking space or garage can make money. If you live near a city center or an airport, you could make anything up to ￡200 or ￡300 a week. Put an advertisement for free on Letpark or Atmyhousepark.
Rent（出租）a room
Spare room Not only will a lodger（房客）earn you an income, but also, thanks to the government-backed “rent a room” program, you won’t have to pay any tax on the first ￡4500 you make per year. Try advertising your room on Roomspare or Roommateeasy.
Make money during special events
Don’t want a full-time lodger? Then rent on a short-term basis. If you live in the capital, renting a room out during the Olympics or other big events could bring in money. Grashpadder can advertise your space
Live on set
Renting your home out as a “film set” could earn you hundreds of pounds a day, depending on the film production company and how long your home is needed. A quick search on the Internet will bring up dozens of online companies that allow you to register your home for free—but you will be charged if your home gets picked.
Use your roof
You need the right kind of roof, but some energy companies pay the cost of fixing solar equipment (around ￡14,000), and let you use the energy produced for nothing. In return, they get paid for unused energy fed back into the National Grid. However, you have to sign a 25-year agreement with the supplier, which could prevent you from changing the roof.If you earn ￡5000 from renting a room in one year, the tax you need to pay will be based on______.
| A．￡800 | B．￡500 | C．￡4500 | D．￡5000 |
If you want to use energy free, you have to_____.
| A．sign an agreement with the government |
| B．pay around ￡14,000 for the equipment |
| C．sell the roof to some energy companies |
| D．keep the roof unchanged for within 25 years |
For whom the text most probably written？
| A．Lodgers. | B．Advertisers. |
| C．House owners. | D．Online companies |
Arthur Miller (1915-2005) is universally recognized as one of the greatest dramatists of the 20thcentury. Miller's father had moved to the USA from Austria Hungary, drawn like so many others by the "Great American Dream". However, he experienced severe financial hardship when his family business was ruined in the Great Depression of the early 1930s.
Miller's most famous play, Death of a Salesman, is a powerful attack on the American system, with its aggressive way of doing business and its insistence（坚持，强调） on money and social status as indicators of worth. In Willy Loman, the hero of the play, we see a man who has got into trouble with this system. Willy is "burnt out" and in the cruel world of business there is no room for sentiment（感伤）: if he can't do the work, then he is no good to his employer, the Wagner Company, and he must go. Willy is painfully aware of this, and at a loss as to what to do with his lack of success. He refuses to face the fact that he has failed and kills himself in the end.
When it was first staged in 1949, the play was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and it won the Tony Award for Best Play, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards.
Miller died of heart failure at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, on the evening of February 10, 2005, the 56th anniversary of the first performance of Death of a Salesman on Broadway.Why did Arthur Miller's father move to the USA?
| A．He suffered from severe hunger in his home country. |
| B．He was attracted by the "Great American Dream" |
| C．He hoped to make his son a dramatist. |
| D．His family business failed. |
The playDeath of a Salesman________.
| A．exposes the cruelty of the American business world |
| B．discusses the ways to get promoted in a company |
| C．talks about the business career of Arthur Miller |
| D．focuses on the skills in doing business |
What can we learn about Willy Loman?
| A．He treats his employer badly. |
| B．He runs the Wagner Company |
| C．He is a victim of the American system. |
| D．He is regarded as a hero by his colleagues. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Arthur Miller and his family |
| B．The awards Arthur Miller won |
| C．The hardship Arthur Miller experienced |
| D．Arthur Miller and his best-known play |
From the health point of view we are living in a marvelous age. We are immunized (免疫) from birth against many of the most dangerous diseases. A large number of once deadly illnesses can now be cured by modern drugs and medical treatment. It is almost certain that one day cures will be found for the most stubborn remaining diseases. The expectation of life has increased enormously. But though the possibility of living a long and happy life is greater than ever before, every day we witness the unbelievable slaughter (屠杀) of men, women and children on the roads. Man vs the motor-car! It is a never-ending battle which man is losing. Thousands of people the world over are killed or horribly killed each year and we are quietly sitting back and letting it happen.
It has been rightly said that when a man is sitting behind a steering wheel (方向盘), his car becomes the extension of his personality. There is no doubt that the motor-car often brings out a man’s very worst qualities. People who are normally quiet and pleasant may become unrecognizable when they are behind a steering-wheel. They are ill-mannered and aggressive, willful as two-year-olds and absolutely selfish. All their hidden disappointments and regrets seem to be brought by the act of driving.
The surprising thing is that society smiles so kindly on the motorist and seems to forgive his behavior. Everything is done for his convenience. Cities are allowed to become almost impossible to live in because of heavy traffic; towns are made ugly by huge car parks; the countryside is ruined by road networks; and the mass annual slaughter becomes nothing more than a statistic, to be conveniently forgotten.
It is high time a world system of laws were created to reduce this senseless waste of human life. As for driving, the laws of some countries are not strict and even the strictest are not strict enough. Here are a few examples of some the things that might be done. The driving test should be standardized and made far more difficult than it is; all the drivers should be made to take a test every three years or so; the age at which young people are allowed to drive any vehicle should be raised to at least 21; all vehicles should be put through strict annual tests for safety. Even the smallest amount of alcohol in the blood can affect a person’s driving ability. Present drinking and driving laws (where they exist) should be made much stricter. Maximum and minimum speed limits should be introduced on all roads. Governments should lay down safety specifications (规范) for manufacturers, as has been done in the USA. All advertising stressing power and performance should be banned. These measures may sound inordinately severe. But surely nothing should be considered as too severe if it results in reducing the annual toll of human life. After all, the world is for human beings, not motor-cars.The main idea of this passage is_________.
| A．Traffic accidents are mainly caused by motorists. |
| B．Thousands of people the world over are killed each year. |
| C．The laws of some countries about driving are not too strict. |
| D．Only stricter traffic laws can prevent accidents. |
What does the author think of society toward motorists?
| A．Society laughs at the motorists. |
| B．Huge car parks are built in the cities and towns. |
| C．Victims of accidents are nothing. |
| D．Society forgives their rude driving. |
Why does the author say: “his car becomes the extension of his personality?”
| A．Driving can show his real self. |
| B．Driving can show the other part of his personality. |
| C．Driving can bring out his character. |
| D．His car can express his temper. |
The attitude of the author is_________.
| A．ironical | B．critical |
| C．appealing | D．favorable |
It is of great importance for students to be able to get a feel for the rhythm and sounds of a poem---more so than for most pieces of prose (散文). This isn’t always easy in a second language, and so listening to their teacher read the poem, or to a professional recording, perhaps by the poet or by an actor, is, I feel, necessary.
As with any listening activity, students will need some kind of preparation and task so that they can be actively engaged. They might be asked to check predictions that arose from a warm-up discussion, to compare their suggested rhyming couplets with the poet’s, or to identify stressed words and syllables.
You might also want to get your students to listen to recorded or live discussions about poems. This can, for example, take the form of a couple of teachers or a group of students giving their views on a poem, or even an interview with the poet.
I’m a big fan of jigsaw listening because of the natural information gap. If your school has the facilities, you might like to:
divide your students into two, or even three groups
give each group a different cassette or CD and tasks to work on
then they come back together to share what they have learned.
Remember that your own enthusiasm is a key factor in any activity relating to literature in the classroom.
Finally, don’t forget to encourage art for art’s sake. Listening for pleasure, to poetry (or to anything else, for that matter), is to be fostered at every opportunity, because of the obvious benefits which include motivation, vocabulary acquisition and learner independence. Many good song lyrics (歌词) could be termed poetry and treated accordingly in the classroom, copyright rules permitting. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．An English student will have difficulty understanding Li Bai’s poems. |
| B．an English student will have some difficulty understanding Walt Whitman. |
| C．A Chinese student will have some difficulty understanding Du Fu’s works. |
| D．An American student will have some difficulty understanding William Shakespeare. |
What kind of preparations should the students do in the listening activity？
a. They’d better predict what the poem is about.
b. They’d better have a warm-up discussion.
c. They will share their own works with their classmates
d. They should know the stressed words.
e. They should make clear the stressed syllables.
f. They should first go to an actor.
| A．abcf | B．abde | C．cdef | D．bcdf |
Who do you think is this passage written for?
| A．The students. | B．The poets. |
| C．The teachers. | D．The readers. |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．How to use poems to develop the students’ skills. |
| B．Listening to poem is more difficult than reading prose. |
| C．The schools should encourage the students to study poems. |
| D．Preparations should be done before teaching. |
阅读理解
What makes a gift special? Is it the price you see on the gift receipt？Or is it the look on the recipient's face when they receive it that determines the true value? What gift is worth the most?
This Christmas I was debating what to give my father. My dad is a hard person to buy for because he never wants anything. I pulled out my phone to read a text message from my mom saying that we were leaving for Christmas shopping for him when I came across a message on my phone that I had locked. The message was from my father. My eyes fell on a photo of a flower taken in Wyoming, and underneath a poem by William Blake. The flower, a lone dandelion (蒲公英) standing against the bright blue sky, inspired me. My dad had been reciting those words to me since I was a kid. That may even be the reason why I love writing. I decided that those words would be my gift to my father.
I called back. I told my mom to go without me and that I already created my gift. I sent the photo of the cream-colored flower to my computer and typed the poem on top of it. As I was arranging the details another poem came to mind. The poem was written by Edgar Allan Poe; my dad recited it as much as he did the other. I typed that out as well and searched online for a background to the words of it. The poem was focused around dreaming, and after searching I found the perfect picture. The image was painted with blues and greens and purples, twisting together to create the theme and wonder of a dream. As I watched both poems passing through the printer, the white paper coloring with words that shaped my childhood, I felt that this was a gift that my father would truly appreciate. Christmas soon arrived. The minute I saw the look on my dad’s face as he unwrapped those black letters carefully placed in a cheap frame, I knew I had given the perfect gift.The author's inspiration for the gift came from_________.
| A．a photo of a flower | B．a story about a kid |
| C．a call from the mother | D．a text about Christmas |
The author made the gift by ________.
| A．searching for the poems online |
| B．drawing the background by hand |
| C．painting the letters in three colors |
| D．matching the words with pictures |
What is the main purpose of the passage?
| A．To show how to design images for gifts |
| B．To suggest making gifts from one’s heart |
| C．To explain how computers help create gifts |
| D．To describe the gifts the author has received |