He met her at a party. She was so outstanding that many guys were chasing after her, while he was so ordinary. At the end of the party, he invited her to have coffee with him. She was surprised but due to being being polite, she promised.
They sat in a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything, and she felt uncomfortable, too. Suddenly he asked the waiter, “Would you please give me some salt? I’d like to put it in my coffee.” Everybody stared at him. It was so strange! His face turned red but still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously, “Why do you have this hobby?” He replied, “When I was a little boy, I lived near the sea, I liked playing in the sea, I could feel the taste of the sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, my hometown, and my parents who are still living there.” While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched. Then she also started to speak, speaking about her faraway hometown, her childhood, and her family.
That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their love. They continued to date. She found that actually he was a man who met all her demands. He had tolerance, kind-hearted, warm and careful. Thanks to his salty coffee! They married. And, every time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in the coffee, as she knew that was the way he liked i
t. After 40 years, he passed away and left her a letter which said, “My dearest, please forgive my whole life’s lie. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but said salt. It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead. I didn’t like the salty coffee then, what a strange bad taste! But I have had the salty coffee for my whole life, for it was prepared by you.” The man was nervous at the coffee shop, because _______.
| A．everybody stared at him at that time |
| B．many guys chased after the woman |
| C．he didn’t feel himself a match for the woman |
| D．he had the strange habit of drinking salty coffee |
From this passage, we can infer that ________.
| A．the man’s lie won the woman’s love |
| B．the man’s parents onced lived near the sea |
| C．the woman talked with the man, for they had the same experience |
| D．the woman realised what salty coffee had to do with a good man |
What can be concluded about the man?
| A．He had intended to give his wife a surprise at his death |
| B．He unwillingly developed a taste for salty coffee after marriage |
| C．He was so stubborn as to drink for a life what he didn’t like |
| D．He enjoyed his lifelong bitter salty coffee out of love |
Which of the following could be the best title for this passage?
| A．A Foolish Lie | B．Salty Coffee |
| C．A Sad Love Story | D．Love in a Coffee Shop |
As societies develop, their members start to see things not so much according to what they need, but according to what they want. When people have enough money, these wants become demands.
Now, it's important for the managers in a company to understand what their customers want if they are going to develop effective marketing strategies(策略). There are various ways of doing this. One way at supermarkets(超市), for example, is to interview(采访)customers while they're doing their shopping. They can be asked what they prefer to buy and then the results of the research can be studied. This provides information on which to base future marketing strategies. It's also quite normal for top managers from department stores to spend a day or two each month visiting stores and mixing freely with the public, as if they were ordinary customers, to get an idea of how customers act.
Another way to get information from customers is to give them something. For example, some fast food restaurants give away tickets in magazines or on the street that permit customers to get part of their meal for nothing. As well as being a good way of attracting customers into the restaurants to spend their money, it also allows the managers to get a feel for where to attract customers and which age-groups to attract.
Another strategy used at some well-known parks such as Disneyland is for top managers to spend at least one day in their work, touring the park dressed as Mickey Mouse or something like that. This provides them with a perfect chance to examine the scene and watch the customers without being noticed. The text is designed for________.
| A．managers |
| B．salesmen |
| C．researchers |
| D．customers |
Which of the following can help managers get useful information?
| A．Visiting customers themselves. |
| B．Giving customers free food on the street. |
| C．Visiting parks as ordinary customers. |
| D．Asking customers questions at supermarkets. |
What does the word “this” underlined in the last sentence refer to?
| A．Visiting Disneyland. |
| B．Wearing attractive clothes. |
| C．Acting Mickey Mouse. |
| D．Dressing up and walking around. |
The main idea of the text is________.
| A．how to do market research |
| B．how to develop marketing strategies |
| C．how to find out customers' social needs |
| D．how to encourage customers to spend more money |
Rail passengers are being forced to pay thousands of pounds more in fares as a result of poor advice from the national telephone helpline and individual stations, a consumer organization reveals today. Research by Which found that in some cases passengers are being charged almost double the cheapest price because of errors made by staff.
Which asked 25 questions of both station staff and the National Rail Enquiries(NRES)helpline. Only half of the 50 questions were answered correctly. If customers had followed all the advice given, they would have seen ￡ 1,263,60 worse off.
Bad advice was given for the cheapest fare for a single journey between London and Grantham. For a ticket bought on the day of travel, both NRES and a King's Cross station clerk quoted GNER's ￡ 44.50 fare, ignoring a Hull Trains service which leaves 10 minutes earlier and costs just ￡ 20.
Some of the most costly misinformation was given for journeys where season tickets should have been recommended. Passengers making a return journey between Swindon and Penzance twice in a week could buy a ticket from one company for ￡ 70 which would cover all the travel. But both NIRES and station staff quoted ￡ 67 for each journey, making ￡ 134. However, the NRES website proved to be a much more reliable source of information.
Which also checked “the earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket” claims by five companies and found this was not always the case. On some services, prices went up and down at random. Ithiel Mogridge, 52, gave one example of poor advice：“Last Christmas I found my brother a ticket on the thetrainline. com to travel from Blackburn to Yate. While the direct route was ￡ 51, this one involved a change in Newport and cost just ￡ 21. I emailed the details to him and and his partner. They went to Blackburn station, where the clerk insisted the fare was ￡ 51.”Malcolm Coles, editor of which. co. uk, said：“Staff training needs to be improved. In the meantime, we've designed a checklist, available at which. co. uk/railiadvice.”According to the passage “Which” is a________.
| A．national telephone helpline |
| B．department under the British Rail |
| C．consumer organization |
| D．website under the National Rail Enquiries |
When the author said that customers “would have been ￡ 1,263,60 worse off”， he was telling us that customers would have________.
| A．saved ￡ 1,263,60 if they had followed the advice |
| B．spend ￡ 1,263,60 more than the lowest price |
| C．used ￡ 1,263,60 for the survey of 25 questions |
| D．been cheated of ￡ 1,263.60 from the poor advice |
The phrase “at random” in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“________”．
| A．casually |
| B．purposefully |
| C．exactly |
| D．inevitably |
At one time no one could travel on an English road faster than four miles an hour. That was the law until 1896. A man had to walk in front of a car which could not go faster than man. At night the man had to carry a red lamp.
Once Charles Rolls brought a car from France to England, but he wanted to drive faster than four miles an hour. In order to have no trouble with the police, he had a talk with some of the police officers，who ordered their policemen to_look_the_other_way when the car came along the road. This was a good plan in the country, but not so easy to follow in the busy streets of London.
One night Roils and some friends started from London on their journey to Cambridge. One of the men walked in front with the red lamp, but he walked as fast as he could. The police became very interested in walls and shop－fronts when they heard the car, and not one of them saw it.
They reached a hill, but what a waste of time it was to drive down the hill at four miles an hour! Rolls was getting ready to jump into the car, but then he noticed a policeman who was not looking the other way. The slow car reached him.
“Good evening，” said the policeman, looking at the car.
“Good evening，” said Rolls, holding the lamp.
“One of these horseless things，” said the policeman, looking at it with interest.
“Yes，” said Roils, and waited.
“I've often wanted a ride in one. but of course policemen can't buy things like that.” He turned and looked hopefully in Roll's face.
“Jump in.” said Rolls.
“Thanks，” said the policeman, and did so.“ Now, ”he said, “sitting down, you can let it go just as you like down this hill.
There isn't another policeman on this road for a mile and a half.”The policemen were told “to look the other way”(the underlined part in Paragraph 2)so that________.
| A．they could watch the car coming from the other direction |
| B．the car could go faster than four miles an hour |
| C．they could make sure no one was in the way |
| D．the car would not hit them on the road |
In what way did the policemen carry out the order from their officers?
| A．They greeted Rolls when the car came along. |
| B．They walked in front of the car with a red lamp. |
| C．They pretended to be attracted by something else. |
| D．They stood on duty every 1.5 miles along the road. |
The policeman who said “Good evening” to Rolls wanted to________.
| A．teach Roils a lesson |
| B．have a talk with Rolls |
| C．take a free ride home |
| D．have a car ride experience |
After the policeman jumped into the car, Rolls________.
| A．dared not drive the car faster than he was allowed to |
| B．could drive as fast as he wished within a certain distance |
| C．could drive on any road he liked for the rest of the journey |
| D．drove his car as fast as he could down the hill to Cambridge |
Some of Beijing Zoo's animals are suffering menu changes because of the bird flu spread in Asia.
Gone are the lions' and tigers' delightful “live” chicken dinners. In their menus, instead, are raw beef and mutton. While the lions and tigers go chicken less, the zoo's birds are also receiving some special and uncomfortable treatment these days. The peacocks in Befalling Safari Animal World, who used to be featured in the park and could walk around showing off their beautiful feathers, now are forced to stay in cages.
And turkeys at the Beijing Zoo—believed to be most likely to suffer from the bird flu virus have been moved out of their old home to places separate from visitors. In most cases，display areas with birds have been closed for health reasons.
Yet a good thing about the present situation is that the living conditions of the zoo's birds are being improved, with keepers keeping the display areas cleaner and not as crowded as before. Almost all zoos have done more frequent cleaning and disinfection for bird cages——measures to prevent infection.
In this special period, pigeons(鸽子)are_frowned_upon._In Beijing, many homing pigeon lovers use balconies(阳台)to build cages for birds. Most neighbours are fed up with these cages since they can produce waste and feathers. Now the city's homing pigeon organization is asking all its members to stop letting pigeons out of their cages and keep cages clean. Still, pigeons and some other birds seem less lovely to people than before.
As a Chinese newspaper put it “Doves, are you still angels？”which of the following shows the menu changes in the Beijing Zoo?
| A．The lions and tigers have “live” chicken dinners. |
| B．The lions and tigers eat raw beef and mutton. |
| C．The lions and tigers have chickens only for supper. |
| D．The lions and tigers have beef and mutton for part of meals. |
We can conclude from the text that________.
| A．turkeys have been moved out of the zoo because of the bird flu virus |
| B．peacock shows used to be free of charge |
| C．people can hardly see peacock shows in the Beijing Zoo now |
| D．homing pigeons are safe from the bird flu virus |
The underlined sentence in the text means“________”．
| A．pigeons receive the best care |
| B．people are worried about pigeons |
| C．people feel displeased with pigeons |
| D．people show no interest in pigeons |
阅读下面的短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。
Rush hour traffic is a problem in many big cities around the world. Commuters(道勤者)rush to and from their jobs in cars, buses, subways, trains, and even on bicycles. Large cities in the United States have two rush hours—one in the morning and one in the evening. But in cities in other parts of the world, there are four rush hours. In Athens and Rome, for example, many workers go home for lunch and a nap. After this midday break, they rush back to their jobs and work for a few more hours.
In Tokyo, there's a big rush hour underground. Most of the people in Tokyo take the subways. The trains are very crowded. Subway employees called packers wear white gloves and help pack the commuters into the trains when the doors place. They make sure that all purses, briefcases, clothes, and hands are inside the trains.
In Seoul, many computers prefer to take taxis to get to work. To hail_a_cab,_many people stand at crossroads and raise two fingers. This means they'll pay the cab driver double the usual fare. Some people even raise three fingers! They'll pay THREE times the normal rate.
Streets in Rome are very crowded with automobiles and mopeds(摩托自行车)during rush hours. The city can't make its streets wider, and it can't build new highways, because it doesn't want to disturb many historic sites in the city, such as the Forum and the Colosseum. It took the city fifteen years to construct a new subway system. Construction had to stop every time workers found old artifacts and discovered places of interest to archaeologists(考古学家)．
In many big cities, there are special lanes on highways for carpools. These are groups of three or more people who driver to and from work together. They share the costs of gas and parking and take turns driving into the city.
Getting to work and getting home can be difficult in many places around the world. Rush hour traffic seems to be a universal problem.Big cities have traffic problems during rush hours because there are________.
| A．special lanes on highways |
| B．many commuters |
| C．four rush hours |
| D．many cars on the street |
Most of commuters in Tokyo________.
| A．take subway trains to work |
| B．are packers |
| C．take taxis to work |
| D．carry briefcases to work |
To “hail a cab” means to________.
| A．pay double the normal rate |
| B．try to get a cab |
| C．prefer to take taxis |
| D．to stand at crossroads |
Why did it take a long time to build a subway system in Rome?
| A．Because the streets were very crowded. |
| B．Because there are many historic sites. |
| C．Because the workers discovered many artifacts and places of interest. |
| D．Because the traffic always stopped the construction. |
Commuters in carpools probably________.
| A．live in the city |
| B．take the subway to work |
| C．save money on gas and parking fees |
| D．have special license plates(牌照) |