Topping the class academically was certainly an advantage. For Nigel, studying was a piece of cake. The reward was certainly much bigger compared to the little effort Nigel had made. It all began when he was selected to help the teachers in the computer laboratories. And the peak of his school career came not when he topped the class but when he was selected for the nationwide competition.
Unlike everyone else, Nigel wanted to join in the contest because he liked playing with the Lego sets(乐高积木) and making something out of them. Nigel spent two months building his robot. It was during the time that Nigel found out about the big prize for the competition as well as a competitive rival(对手), Alicia, from a neighboring school. His early intentions were forgotten. Getting the thousand-dollar prize was more important th
an anything else. Nigel decided to make friends with Alicia. Unaware of his intentions, she told him all about the robot that she had been building for the competition. He even helped her to put the finishing touches(收尾工作) to her robot. He was glad with the way things had progressed. His robot looked even better than Alicia's and it was able to play a ball with its arm, something Alicia had failed to do.
On the day of the competition, he saw Alicia. Everything became clear the minute she saw him among the competitors. She stared at him, puzzled at first, then angry and finally a look of helplessness came over her.
The flashbulbs (闪光灯) of the camera exploded in Nigel's face. The robot had performed actions so unique and different that the specialists' judgments were the same. Nigel was so pleased with himself that he did not even notice the girl standing a few feet away from him. Without her, he would never have won the competition. What reward did Nigel receive for doing well in his school work?
| A．He was offered a part-time job. | B．He was honored with a scholarship. |
| C．He helped his teachers build a robot. | D．He helped in the computer laboratories. |
Nigel's original intention of joining the contest was to ___ .
| A．win honor for his school | B．be the top student of the school |
| C．build a robot with the Lego sets | D．win the thousand-dollar prize |
Why did Nigel help Alicia finish her robot?
| A．He intended to help her. | B．He was fond of building robots. |
| C．He wanted to be her real friend. | D．He didn't want her to suspect (怀疑) him. |
What is the author's attitude towards Nigel's actions?
| A．Favorable | B．Critical (批评的) | C．Doubtful | D．Sympathetic |
The first time I saw Carlos I would never have believed he was going to change my life. I had my arms full of books and I was tearing into the classroom when I ran into something solid. It was Carlos.
“My, you’re tall,” he said.
Of course, the class began to laugh. Angry, I walked to my seat without a word.
I glanced back to see if Reed Harrington was laughing with the rest. That would be the last straw. But Reed was studying chemistry and did not seem to be aware of anything else. I didn’t know why I considered Reed my friend. Maybe just because he was a good two inches taller than I. Anyway, every time I blew out my birthday candles and made a wish, it was for a date with Reed Harrington. “Take that seat,” Mr. McCarthy told the proud newcomer Carlos, pointing to the only empty one, in the back of the room.
Carlos smiled broadly. “But I need a couple of dictionaries.” Again the class laughed, but now they were laughing with Carlos, not at him. He had been here only 10 minutes and already he had them on his side.
It was the school elections that made me think of Carlos again. Reed Harrington was voted president and Carlos vice president. “How come?” I kept asking myself. “How come this shrimp(虾) who’s only been in town for a little over a month gets to be so popular.”
So on that morning, I stopped Carlos and said, “It doesn’t seem to bother you—being short.” He looked up at me. “Of course I mind being short. But there isn’t anything I can do about it. When I realized I was going to have to spend my life in this undersized skin, I just decided to make the best of it and concentrate on being myself.” “You seem to get along great,” I admitted. “But what about me? Nobody wants to date a girl taller than he is.” “The trouble with you is you’re afraid to be yourself. You’re smart. And you could be pretty. In fact, you might be more than pretty.” I felt myself turning red...
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The writer cared much about Reed’s attitude. |
| B．Carlos isn’t popular with the classmates. |
| C．The writer is always confident with herself. |
| D．Carlos always makes fun of the writer. |
From the passage, we can conclude _______________.
| A．Carlos is as tall as the writer |
| B．Carlos fell love with the writer later |
| C．the writer is very tall |
| D．Reed, Carlos and the writer became good friends later |
What can we use to describe Carlos’ character?
| A．Handsome and proud | B．Humorous and confident |
| C．Diligent and helpful | D．Hardworking and popular |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．A girl and a boy. | B．My shortcomings. |
| C．My helpful classmates. | D．A change in my life. |
Coffee has a history dating back to at least the 9th century and has been a catalyst for social interaction across cultures and eras. Originally discovered in Ethiopia, coffee beans were brought into the Middle East by Arab traders, spreading to Egypt, Yemen, Persia, Turkey, and North Africa by the 15th century. Muslim merchants eventually brought the beans to the thriving port city of Venice, where they sold them to wealthy Italian buyers. Soon, the Dutch began importing and growing coffee in places like Java and Ceylon (largely through slave labor), and the British East India Trading Company was popularizing the beverage in England. Coffee spread across Europe and even reached America.
Where there has been coffee, there has been the coffeehouse. From the 15th century Middle Eastern establishments where men gathered to listen to music, play chess, and hear recitations from works of literature, to Paris' Cafe le Procope where luminaries of the French Enlightenment such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot came to enjoy a hot cup of joe, coffeehouses have traditionally served as centers of social interaction, places where people can come to relax, chat, and exchange ideas.
The modern coffee shop is modeled on the espresso and pastry-centered Italian coffeehouses that arose with the establishment of Italian-American immigrant communities in major US cities such as New York City's Little Italy and Greenwich Village, Boston's North End, and San Francisco's North Beach. New York coffee shops were often frequented by the Beats in the 1950's. It wasn't long before Seattle and other parts of the Pacific Northwest were developing coffee shops as part of a thriving counterculture scene. The Seattle-based Starbucks took this model and brought it into mainstream culture.
Although coffeehouses today continue to serve their traditional purpose as lively social hubs in many communities, they have noticeably adapted to the times. Rediscovering their purpose as centers of information exchange and communication, many coffee shops now provide their customers with internet access and newspapers. It has become extremely common to see someone sitting at a Starbucks listening to music or surfing the web on his or her laptop. Coffee stores today also maintain a fairly identifiable, yet unique aesthetic: wooden furniture and plush couches, paintings and murals drawn on walls, and soft-lighting combine to give coffee shops the cozy feeling of a home away from home.
Today, big business retail coffee shops are expanding quickly all over the world. Starbucks alone has stores in over 40 countries and plans to add more. Despite its popularity, Starbucks has been criticized and labeled by many as a blood-sucking corporate machine, driving smaller coffee shops out of business through unfair practices. This has even spawned an anti-corporate coffee counterculture, with those subscribing to this culture boycotting big business coffee chains. Increasingly popular coffee stores such as The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf are also giving Starbucks some stiff competition. In any case, it seems pretty clear that coffee has weaved itself into the fabric of our consumer-oriented culture.
Which of the following is the correct order of coffee spreading in history?
①Egypt②America③the Middle East④Netherlands⑤Venice
| A．①③④②⑤ | B．③①⑤④② | C．①⑤④③② | D．③②⑤④① |
We can infer from the passage ________.
| A．Starbucks has beaten all the competitors |
| B．there are no changes in the development of coffee culture |
| C．the taste of coffee has changed a lot |
| D．Starbucks has some effect on the development of coffee culture |
The famous coffeehouse “Starbucks” originally come from _______.
| A．Seattle | B．Ethiopia | C．Java | D．France |
Nowadays, if you come to a coffeehouse, you can _______.
| A．play chess with other customers |
| B．enjoy delicious dishes from South America |
| C．surf the internet |
| D．watch a TV play |
We supply the bike, panniers, all the support gear, easy to follow maps, cycle routes and either the accommodation or several accommodation suggestions depending on the tour.
All you need to do is bring your cycle gear. Book your accommodation off the detailed list if required, and you are all set for a cheap, environmentally friendly holiday in New Zealand.
We do all the hard work of sorting routes and where to stay — you just relax and enjoy the riding! Too easy.
There are more tours to come so if you don’t see a tour that suits your needs let us know!
| Tour |
Grade |
Cost from |
Options |
|
| 2 Day Self Guided Road Tour Banks Peninsula |
2 |
$182 |
 |
View Map |
| 2 days of self guided cycling on Banks Peninsula roads. Includes bike hire, trip notes, panniers and lots great riding around lyttelton Harbour. |
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| 3 Day Self Guided Road Tour Canterbury and the Southern Alps |
2 |
$215 |
|
View Map |
| An easy three day introduction to cycle touring to the inexperienced cyclist. From the high alpine passes of Arthur Pass cross the fertile Canterbury plains to the endless sandy east coast beaches. |
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| 5 Day Self Guided Road Tour Christchurch to Queenstown |
4 |
$480 |
|
View Map |
| The wonderful and wild West Coast in a flash! For the fit and keen cyclist |
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| 6 Day Self Guided Road Tour Christchurch to Queenstown |
2 |
$365 |
|
View Map |
| A tour that gets you from Christchurch to Queenstown a different way with far less hills! Cycling through the center of the South Island where great feast of fresh Salmon and breath taking views of Mt Cook await. |
||||
| 8 Day Self Guided Road Tour Christchurch to Queenstown |
3 |
$390 |
|
View Map |
| From Christchurch to Queenstown in eight days down the West coast. The Transalpine does the hard work for you across Arthurs Pass and drops you in Greymouth for the start of your tour. |
If you learned how to ride bike only a week ago, you should choose _______.
| A．2 Day Self Guided Road Tour | B．3 Day Self Guided Road Tour |
| C．5 Day Self Guided Road Tour | D．8 Day Self Guided Road Tour |
Where can we mostly see the passage?
| A．Newspaper | B．TV | C．Internet | D．Magazine |
What do you have to do when you want to enjoy your cycle tour?
| A．Bring your cycle gear. |
| B．Bring your support gear and book your accommodation. |
| C．Book your accommodation. |
| D．Bring your bike gear and do some hard work. |
For years experts have argued that poor households are consuming less nourishing food than the rest of the population.
But a survey of some of the lowest earners in Britain shows the nutritional value of what they eat is little different to everyone else.
In fact, the same deficiencies in diet were shared by all the population and the findings suggest that poor eating choices are far more widespread than previously suspected - affecting many wealthier families.
These included low fruit and vegetable consumption, not eating enough oily fish and eating too much saturated fat and sugar.
“This is a large and significant study and it shows we are all eating just as bad a diet as each other,” said Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University.
The poorest families were eating only slightly more sugar and slightly less fruit and vegetables, according to the study of 3,728 respondents in the bottom of the population.
Alison Tedstone, head of nutritional science at the Food Standard Agency, said: “Overall, people on low incomes have less than ideal diets, but their diets are only slightly worse than those of the rest of the population.”
The study also showed that low earners are choosing to eat unhealthily. Their food choices were not linked to their income, their access to shops or their cooking skills.
The findings appear to contradict assumptions that the poor cannot afford healthier foods or are too far away from shops that sell them.
The Low Income Nutrition and Diet Survey showed that like the rest of the population, the poor's daily fruit and vegetable intake on average is below the recommended five portions. Fewer than 10 per cent of respondents hit this target, while around 20 per cent ate less than a portion per day.
More than three quarters (76 per cent) of men and 81 per cent of women did less than one 30-minute session of moderate or vigorous exercise per week.
Some 45 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women were smokers.
This compares with 28 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women in the general population.
According to the passage, which of the following is true?
| A．Whether the poor or the rich maybe have a bad diet. |
| B．Even the poor can enjoy enough fruit and fish consumption. |
| C．Only the poor have a bad diet. |
| D．The study was conveyed in both the rich and the poor. |
What kind of persons maybe eat most sugar?
| A．The rich. | B．Men. | C．The poorest. | D．Women |
From the passage, we can learn __________.
| A．the poor choose unhealthy food because of low income |
| B．having no access to shops also leads to the poor’s bad diet |
| C．the poor’s daily fruit intake is as much as general people |
| D．the number of smokers in the poor is bigger than that in general people |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．The poor’s healthy problem. | B．Keep off junk food. |
| C．How to have a good diet. | D．A diet survey. |
Plastics are considered one of the most serious pollutants causing environmental problems. The garbage containing plastics end up in the waterways that eventually flow into the oceans. Accumulation (聚集)of plastic in the ocean endangers marine life and pollutes the water.
Does a plastic continent exist? Yes, a plastic continent does exist and was discovered by Captain Charles Moore a decade ago. The plastic continent is twice the size of Britain and it is the region between the Hawaii Islands and California in the central Pacific Ocean.
One of the causes of the lack of marine life in this region is due to pollution and pollutants are none other than plastics. Captain Charles Moore believes plastic waste started accumulating in the 1950s.
The plastic continent is the man-made continent of floating plastic waste. The fisher men and the sailors have avoided this region for years. The reasons are:
1. There are no fish here because of the lack of nutrients.
2. The zone also lacks the wind that is essential for sailing.
To do research on the ocean pollution, Captain Moore founded Algalita Marine Research Foundation. Other organizations such as Greenpeace supported his cause. The reports of The United Nations Environment Program show that millions of seabirds and marine animals are dying due to the invasion(入侵)of plastics. The waste plastics can be recycled, but in fact they are being thrown into the oceans. The marine animals mistake these for food and eat them. This leads to their death that affects the marine food chain.
To save the oceans from the plastic continent you need to reduce the use of plastics, reuse plastic bags and recycle plastics. What can we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．A plastic continent does exist in the Pacific Ocean |
| B．Endangered marine life is well protected. |
| C．Plastics are one of the main causes of water pollution. |
| D．Plastics should be forbidden in people’s daily life. |
What is the direct influence of the plastic continent?
| A．Local fishermen have to fish in other areas. |
| B．The water becomes shallow and fish have to move away. |
| C．The wind is too strong there and it makes sailing more difficult. |
| D．It makes people realize the importance of protecting the environment. |
It is implied that the work of plastic recycling proves to be ______.
| A．effective | B．expensive | C．a difficult task | D．not good enough |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Many marine animals are dying due to the broken marine food chain. |
| B．Captain Moore founded Greenpeace to do research on the ocean pollution. |
| C．The marine animals have no choice but to eat plastics for lack of food. |
| D．There are three ways to prevent the oceans from becoming a plastic continent. |