As prices and building costs keep rising, “the do-it-yourself”(DIY)trend(趋势) in the US continues to grow.
“We needed furniture for our living room,” says John Kose, “and we didn’t have enough money to buy it.” So we decided to try making a few tables and chairs. John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling (努力)to make a home when the cost of living is very high. The Koses took a 2-week course for $ 280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.
Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full-time job at home as well as in a shoe-making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $420. “I was very upset about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course. I should be able to fix the car myself. ”
John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you want to become a “do-it-yourself”, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who don’t have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how to do things yourself.
We know from the passage that many people ________ .
A.seldom go to a department store to buy things |
B.take DIY courses run by the government |
C.like to learn to make their own furniture |
D.find it hard to pay for what they need |
John and his wife went to evening classes to learn how to _______ .
A.improve the quality of life |
B.save time and money |
C.make or repair things |
D.run a DIY shop |
When the writer says that Jim has a full-time job at home, he means Jim ______.
A.keeps house and looks after his children |
B.does his own car and home repairs |
C.does extra work at night |
D.make shoes in his home |
Jim Hatfield decided to become a do-it-yourself when ______ .
A.he had to raise the children all by himself |
B.he could not possibly do two jobs |
C.the car repair class was not helpful |
D.his car repairs cost too much |
How can people learn DIY?
A.Go to classes. |
B.Read books. |
C.Go to classes and read books. |
D.The passage doesn't tell us. |
London—Lazy students can now give up on work altogether as two Oxford University students have made scores of A-grade essays(论文)on the website for students to copy.
The essays are on the new website,“revise.it.”
The website includes an “Essay Lab”designed to make cheating(舞弊)as effective and effortless as possible.
Its homepage announces to surfers(网上冲浪者):“The revise.it Essay Lab is a bank of hundreds of A-Level essays covering popular topics.”
“Next time you are asked to write an essay,why not see what we have on the subject—if you are in a lazy state of mind you can even use our guide to writing the essays and then just hand them in.”
Nick Rose and Jordan Mayo,both 19 and first from Manchester,spent much of their first year as students at the university setting up the website.There is no charge for downloading the essays.
“I have never been very good at essay writing,”Rose admitted.“We don’t see essay bank as a cheating way.It’s a surprising valuable resource.You can learn a lot by reading other people’s work on the subject.”
Among other tips,the website suggests inventing important speeches to give essays extra weight:“Popular people to quote(引用)are Douglass Hurd or Disraeli.”
Hurd was a foreign secretary in the 1980s and Disraeli was a 19th century prime minister.
Teachers are expressing their opinions by e-mail that they are angry about the website that “encourages students to cheat”,but students disagree.
According to Rose:“Exams are a fight.It’s us against them.”
65.It can be inferred from this passage that______.
A.students who visit the website“revise.it”are all lazy
B.students in Oxford University are all lazy
C.websites in Oxford University are all set up by students
D.websites can provide people with different kinds of information
66.Nick Rose and Jordan Mayo set up their website for the purpose of______.
A.helping students to cheat in exams
B.helping students to improve their writing
C.making money to pay for their schooling
D.making their teacher free
67.What Rose said at last suggests that in England______.
A.it is difficult for students to pass their exams
B.it is difficult for teachers to finish their teaching
C.students are not satisfied with the education system
D.students are too lazy to learn anything
“I Love You”Virus
On May 21,1999,some American scientists were working at the computers to look for information they needed.Suddenly they saw a lot of very bright red spots crossing the computers’screens.At the same time the computers were working much slower.To find out what was happening they stopped their work to check some parts of the computers.To their horror,they found out that most of their stored information was got rid of by computer virus! Obviously all these computers had been infected by computer virus.
It is said that the computer virus was made by two or three Philippine young men fond of playing tricks.They all had excellent education.They created the virus just to show their intelligence.The kind of computer virus is named“I Love You”Virus.This virus can hide in computers for long.When the time comes it will attack the computers by lowering the important functions,damaging their normal programs or even getting rid of a great deal of information which operators of the computers often use or store;even worse,it still can reproduce itself in great quantities within a short time.
We come to know that “I Love You”Virus often attacks computers on Mondays and that it is spreading to many computers in the world.Among the countries that suffered computer viruses last year are Britain,Australia,Switzerland and the US.Those who made the computer viruses have been found out slowly and ca
refully.But till now,how to get rid of the terrible viruses remains a problem.
61.In 1999,the virus made American scientists’information______.
A.all lost B.partly lost C.none lost D.mostly lost
62.The most terrible character“I Love You”Virus is______.
A.it can hide in computers for long
B.it can damage computer’s normal programs
C.it can get rid of all the information that the operator stores
D.it can reproduce itself in great quantities in a short time
63.All the following countries have been attacked by“I Love You”Virus EXCEPT______.
A.Britain B.Australia C.Switzerland D.Japan
64.According to the passage,which is NOT true about“I Love You”Virus?
A.Have found who made it B.Have found the solution to it
C.Have been attacked by it D.Have no effective method to it
Museums have changed.They are no longer places that one “should”go but to enjoy.
At a science museum in Canada,you can feel your hair stand on end as harmless electricity passes through your body.At the Children’s Museum in New York,you can play an African drum.There are no “Do Not Touch”sign in some other museums in the USA.
More and more museum directors have realized that people learn beat when they can become part of what they are seeing.In many science museums,the visitors are encouraged to touch,listen,operate and experiment so as to discover scientific rules for themselves.
The purpose is not only to provide fun,but also help people feel at home in the world of science.If people don’t understand science,they will be afraid of it;and if they are afraid of science,they will not make the best use of it.
One cause of all these changes is the increase in wealth and spare time.Another cause is the growing number of young people in the population.Many of them are college students or college graduates.They see things in a new and different way.They want art that they can take part in.The same is true of science and history.
The old museums have been changing and the government is encouraging the building of new,modern museums.In the States and Canada,there are more than 6 000 museums,almost twice as many as there were 25 years ago.
53.The directors of the museums have realized______.
A.people learn beat when they look at something.
B.visitors prefer to learn from museums
C.people are interested if they take part
D.the importance of scientific rules
54.Why has the growing population of young people caused the changes in museums?
A.Because they are stronger.
B.Because they have less spare time.
C.Because they are better educated.
D.Because there are more young people.
55.Which of the following is not shown in Paragraph Two?
A.People are encouraged to take part in what they are seeing.
B.People are enjoying themselves fully in modern museums.
C.People will understand better by trying to discover the scientific rules themselves.
D.People should go to a museum to learn something.
A teacher of English as a second language is the 2004 Teacher of the Year in the United States.Kathy Mellor of Rhode Island will spend the next year as an international spokeswoman for education.President Bush and his wife,Laura,honored her during a ceremony(仪式)at the White House last week.
For the past nineteen years,Kathy Mellor has taught English as a second language at Davisville Middle School in North Kingstown,Rhode Island,in the northeastern United States.She redesigned the program for E.S.L students at her school to provide each student with one to three periods per day in classes for English learners.How much instruction the students get depends on their level of skill in listening,speaking,reading and writing.The amount of time they spend in these classes is reduced as their level of English increases.
A teacher describes this as the most successful E.S.L.program in North Kingstown.She also praises Kathy Mellor for providing help to students and their families by forming a local parents group for speakers of other languages.This improved their ability to help their children.Kathy Mellor earned a master’s degree in education from Rhode Island College.She studied teaching English as a second language.
She was chosen for the national honor of Teacher of the Year from among top teachers in each of the fifty states.As Teacher of the Year,Kathy Mellor will travel around the United States and to other countries.She will talk about the importance of education and the work of teachers.
50.This passage is mainly about______.
A.Teacher of the Year 2004 in the United States
B.Ms Mellor’s English teaching instruction
C.Ms Mellor’s teaching skills of learning English
D.praises to Ms Mellor from other teachers
51.What does“E.S.L.”in the passage stand for?
A.English study learners. B.English speaking and listening.
C.English special learners. D.English as a second language.
52.From this passage we can learn that______.
A.middle school teachers from each state are honored Teachers of the Year
B.middle school teachers in the USA have to get master’s degrees
C.Ms Mellor’s students have no problems in learning English
D.the American government pays much attention to education
Most of us lead unhealthy lives;we spend far too much sitting down.If in addition we are careless about our diets,our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slowmoving.There are some aspects(方面)of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid.I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution,noise,rushed meals and stress.But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils.The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other.While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park,they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.
For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports—and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them—there are such separate activities as cycling,walking,jogging and swimming.What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way,so slowly,that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good,except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.
Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape,through sport or gymnastics,you are still only half way to good health,because,according to the experts,you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation(放松).It has to do with deep breathing,emptying your mind of all thoughts,meditation,and so on.Yoga,as practiced in the West,is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation.It seems ironical(讽刺性的),though,that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activity physical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other—which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.
46.Pollution,noise and stress are examples of______.
A.causes of unfitness
B.bad features of living in towns
C.the things we can completely do away with
D.unavoidable things in town
47.We don’t get much out of separate sports because we______.
A.don’t do them very often B.don’t do them actively enough
C.find it hard to get out of our armchairs D.don’t find them interesting
48.To be healthy we must______.
A.keep fit and active B.keep fit and learn to relax
C.be active and practise Yoga D.have a sound mind
49.Our forefathers were healthy because______.
A.their way of life closely connected with both exercise and relaxation
B.they were careful to get plenty of fresh air
C.they spent most of the time out of doors
D.their environment was not polluted