Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day. “I was a clothes addict,” he jokes. “I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled.” Today David wears casual clothes—khaki pants and sports shirt—to the office. He hardly ever wears necktie. “I’m working harder than ever,” David says, “and I need to feel comfortable.”
More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work in the United States. The change from formal to casual office wear has been gradual. In the early 1990s, many companies allowed their employees to wear casual clothes on Friday(but only on Friday). This became known as “dress-down Friday” or “casual Friday.” “What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for employees has really become an everyday thing,” said business consultant Maisly Jones.
Why have so many companies started allowing their employees to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it’s easier for a company to attract new employees if it has a casual dress code. “A lot of young people don’t want to dress up for work,” says the owner of a software company, “so it’s hard to hire people if you have a conservative dress code.” Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study conducted by Levi Strauss and Company, 85 percent of employers said that they believe that casual dress improves employee morale(士气). Only 4 percent of employers said that casual dress has a negative impact on productive. Supporters of casual office wear also argue that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,” one person said. “For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.”David Smith refers to himself as having been “a clothes addict” because .
| A．he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt |
| B．he couldn’t stand a clean appearance |
| C．he wanted his clothes to look neat all the time |
| D．he didn’t want to spend much money on clothes |
David Smith wears casual clothes now, because .
| A．they make him feel at ease when working |
| B．he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes |
| C．he looks handsome in casual clothes |
| D．he no longer works for any company |
According to this passage, which of the following statements is FALSE?
| A．Many employees don’t like a conservative dress code. |
| B．Comfortable clothes make employees more productive. |
| C．A casual clothes code is welcomed by young employees. |
| D．All the employers in the US are for casual office wear. |
In this passage, the following advantages of casual office wear are mentioned EXCEPT .
| A．saving employees’ money |
| B．making employees more attractive |
| C．improving employees’ motivation |
| D．making employees happier |
Every afternoon hundreds of thousands of youth fill Internet cafes, switch on a game console (游戏机), or otherwise sit down to enter fantasy worlds. I’m talking about video games. These games can be fun and exciting, but we need to look out when this pastime becomes an addiction.
Games are often quite exciting and dramatic, but they generally aren’t very intellectual. We don’t learn as much from them as we would only reading a book. Spending too much time playing them can take away our study time. We need to remember that we are students first. Nothing should ever get in the way of proper studying.
Video games can also be a bad effect on younger children who may be watching. Many video games are violent and the object in most of them is to kill the other player(s). This does not send the right message to the children who need to be told that violence is not acceptable and need to be taught how to deal with situations maturely. Even if we do need to sit down and play a violent video game, we need to make sure that it is not affect the younger people around us.
Playing a computer game in our spare time is not a bad thing. Games can be a great way to relax after studying, to connect to our friends, or just to help our creativity. However, games should not become the focus of our life. We need to make sure that laying games never interferes with our studies and that we aren’t thinking about them all day. If we ever find ourselves playing them too much, we need to break the addiction. If that happens, we need to step away from the computer or television screen and learn to spend our time more productively. The writer mainly tells the readers __________.
to play computer games every afternoon
not to play computer games too much
not to affect other people while playing games
to spend more time studying The writer thinks about computer games all of the following except _________.
| A．exciting | B．dramatic | C．intellectual | D．violent |
Computer games may have bad effect on younger children because __________.
these children often stay in Internet cafes all day long
children often forget to do their lessons
computer games are often violent
children don’t have enough money to play computer games The writer advises computer game players ________.
not to affect younger people around
not to play violent games
never to enter Internet cafes
to teach younger children how to play computer games
Electronic waste, or e-waste, refers to electronic products that are no longer usable. This can include TVs, cell phones and computers and other office electronics, electronic toys and videos machines. Today, the average turnover（更换）rate for a computer in the United States is every two years, according to the environmental group, Greenpeace.
The group's Dai Yun says e-waste is a global problem. "The electronic industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The high speed of growth in this industry means more and more electronic products are being wasted and thrown away. If no one decides to retrieve the old products and process them properly, the electronic waste will sweep over the earth like the huge wave behind me and pollute the Earth seriously."
Greenpeace works out that 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste are produced globally each year. The components（部件）in many electronic products contain harmful chemicals that pollute ground water and the environment.
At present , the U.S. has no federal law for the disposal (处理) of e-waste although a few states have e-waste recycling programs in place, but there is no law. The U.S. exports much of its e-waste to third world countries, such as India and China, where workers took apart computers for valuable parts, hoping to sell them for money. But harmful wastes expert, Dr. Bakul Rao, says that's a dangerous practice. "From now on, the recyclers are not very educated. All they know is they can retrieve copper or gold out of it. So, the easiest way to do that is leach (过滤) it out in an acid or burn it off to retrieve it. So, that's where they don't know how to deal with it, neither do they have any health systems in place. So, their exposure is more." Which of the following is most likely not to be a form of e-waste?
| A．A mobile phone | B．A radio | C．An e-bike | D．A table |
What does the underlined word "retrieve" (paragraph 2) probably mean?
| A．look into | B．take apart | C．get back | D．throw away |
What of the following statements is true according to the passage？
| A．The U.S. has strict national laws for dealing with e-waste. |
| B．Third world countries import e-waste to get valuable parts, which is a safe and easy way to make money. |
| C．The way uneducated workers deal with old computers does great harm to the environment as well as to their own health. |
| D．More and more electronic waste is being wasted and thrown away mainly because of |
people's bad habits.What is the purpose of writing the passage?
| A．To attract more people's attention to e-waste. |
| B．To call on people not to throw away e-waste anywhere. |
| C．To tell people what e-waste is and how to deal with it well. |
| D．To warn people to break away from the electronic industry. |
The next paragraph probably concerns_______.
| A．how to deal with e-waste properly |
| B．how to protect ourselves from harm by e-waste |
| C．How to slow down the development in the electronic industry |
| D．how to make full use of e-waste |
Moses Mendelssohn, the grandfather of the well-known German composer(作曲家), was far from being handsome. Along with a rather short stature(身材), he had a hunchback(驼背) .
One day he visited a merchant in Hamburg who had a lovely daughter named Frumtje. Moses fell hopelessly in love with her. But Moses was refused by his ugly appearance
When it was time for him to leave, Moses picked up his courage and climbed the stairs to
her room to take one last chance to speak with her. She was a heavenly beauty, but caused him deep sadness by her refusal to look at him. After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, “Do you believe marriages are made in heaven？”
“Yes, ”She answered, still looking at the floor. “And do you？”
“Yes I do, ”He replied. “You see, in heaven at the birth of each boy, the God announces which
girl he will marry. When I was born, my future bride(新娘) was pointed out to me. Then the God added, ‘But your wife will be humpbacked. ’”“Right then and there I called out, ‘Oh God, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy(不幸). Please, God, give me the hump and let her be beautiful. ’”
Then Frumtje looked up into his eyes and was stirred by some deep memory. She reached out and gave Mendelssohn her hand and later became his devoted wife.At first Moses was refused by Frumtje because_______.
| A．he had a bad intention |
| B．he was not handsome and humpbacked |
| C．he had no courage to express himself |
| D．he was a hopeless man |
Frumtje accepted Moses’ request in the end because of_______.
| A．Moses’ good heart and honesty |
| B．Moses’ sweet words and devotion |
| C．Moses’ tricks and lies |
| D．Moses’ wealth and humor. |
Which of the following word can replace the underlined word “stirred” in the last paragraph ?
| A．mixed | B．moved | C．caused | D．surprised |
The writer of the passage intends to try to tell us _______.
| A．how to run after e a girl | B．a marriage in heaven |
| C．a moving love story | D．What true love is. |
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The passage is aimed to ____________.
| A．telling people some information about Wu-Long tea. |
| B．proving to people that Okuma's Wu-Long Is the World's #1 Weight-Loss Solution. |
| C．persuading fat people to buy Wu-Long tea. |
| D．informing people that Wu-Long tea is on sale. |
The underlined sentence “we're putting our money where our mouth is” probably means______.
| A．We put our money inside the pocket. |
| B．We’ll give your money back if you are not satisfied |
| C．You can order anytime. |
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Which of the following is not the function of Okuma's Wu-Long?
| A．curing skin illnesses |
| B．increasing energy and intellidence |
| C．melting away needless bodyfat. |
| D．making your waistline slender and attractive. |
The passage is probably taken from________.
| A．a newspaper | B．a magazine | C．a journal | D．a biology book |
If you want to get 4 boxes of Wu-Long tea, you should pay______.
| A．185$ | B．222$ | C．148$ | D．111$ |
Are you a big fan of pirate（海盗） stories? Do you know how to talk like a pirate? You can have fun on September 19th. This special holiday is called International Talk Like A Pirate Day. It was invented in 1995 by two young Americans, John Baur and Mark Summers.
These two good friends came up with this idea when they were playing racquetball, and began to talk like pirates. At that moment, they thought, “Young people are interested in pirate. But there is no such a chance for people to get together to share it. Why not have a day when everybody talks like a pirate?” They decided to make September 19th the date. Since then, Baur and Summers have tried hard to promote Talk Like A Pirate Day. As Baur said, “We've talked like pirates, and encouraged several of our friends to do so every September 19th.”
At first, this day was only known by a few people. In 2002, Baur and Summers sent a letter about their invented holiday to Dave Barry. This columnist（专栏作家）really liked their idea. He promoted the holiday and made it known to more and more people. Now, it has really become an international holiday. On Talk Like A Pirate Day, you need to dress like a pirate. You should wear a big hat or maybe cover one of your eyes. You can pretend to be any kind of pirate that you can find in any story or movie.
Having fun and being relaxed are not the only best things about the holiday. Young people share the same interest and childhood dreams that day. That's why it is welcomed by so many people, especially young people.
Unlike traditional holidays, International Talk Like A Pirate Day is a brand new holiday which is invented by the youth themselves and celebrated by themselves too. Because of Baur and Summers' imagination and creativity, thousands of young people's pirate dream come true. Next time, when you have a good idea, why not share it with your fiends and insist on your belief? Maybe you can create another wonderful holiday for the youth in the future.How did John Baur and Mark Summers invent the special holiday?
| A．Many young people asked them to do it |
| B．They did it just for pleasure |
| C．They thought out the idea by chance and imagination |
| D．They did it in order to honor pirates |
Why are the holiday become more and more popular？.
| A．You can have fun and relax yourself freely. |
| B．young people can exchange ideas and dreams on the day |
| C．young people can have fun and be relaxed. |
| D．you can play the role of the pirate in the movie on the day |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．It was Dave Barry who made more people know the holiday. |
| B．Talk Like A Pirate Day is a young, active and lively holiday |
| C．Thanks to John Baur and Mark Summers’ imagination and creativity, a lot of people realize their pirate dream. |
| D．The holiday has been popular since the birth of it. |
According to the passage, which of the following can show that the holiday is special?
| A．It has a long history. |
| B．It is a wonderful and instructive holiday. |
| C．It is a brand new holiday invented and celebrated by the youth themselves. |
| D．People can make their dream come true on this day. |
Which of the following can serve as the best title of the passage？
| A．Can you talk like a pirate? |
| B．Young people’s pirate dream |
| C．John Baur and Mark Summers |
| D．September 19th ,—a day in honor of pirates |