I travel a lot in my work, and what I dislike about
my job is eating alone. It always makes me feel lonely to see others laughing and talking. So, room service for several nights was a better choice for me.
After having room service three nights at a hotel in Houston, however, I needed to get out of my room. Although the restaurant opened at 6:30, I arrived at 6:25. The waiter at the front desk made a comment(评论) about my “being there really early”. I explained my dislike of eating alone in restaurants. He then seated me at a lovely table and asked me whether I would mind if he sat down with me for a while.
I was glad! He sat and talked with me about his career goals and the difficulty of being at work on nights, weekends and holidays. He said he hadn’t enough time to be with his family. After 15 minutes, he saw some customers at the front desk and excused himself. I noticed that before he went to the fron
t desk, he stopped in the kitchen for a moment.
Then another waiter came out of the kitchen and had a wonderful chat with me. Before I left that night, some other waiters, even the cook, had come out of the kitchen and sat with me! When I asked for my bill about one hour later, all the people who had sat down with me came over in a big group to my table, and presented me with a red rose. And I cried! What had begun as a lonely night ended as a beautif
ul experience.
The author asked for room service because _______.
| A．a lot of money would be saved in this way |
| B．he didn’t like to eat with other people around |
| C．he didn’t wanted to be recognized by the waiters |
| D．seeing people laughing and talking made him feel bad |
How did the waiter feel when he saw the author come in at 6:25?
| A．Dissatisfied. | B．Pleased. | C．Surprised. | D．Angry. |
From the third paragraph, we can learn that the waiter at the front desk ______.
| A．knew how to attract more customers to his restaurant |
| B．found it hard to balance his work and his family |
| C．was getting tired of his present job |
| D．had never had such a chance to talk about his worries |
The author wants to tell us that ______.
| A．people are actually all lonely in their own way |
| B．restaurants should put the need of customers first |
| C．the kindness of strangers can make you less lonely |
| D．restaurants are full of surprises for lonely people |
People are talking about the “new economy.” It’s very different from the “old economy”.
In the old economy, people travel to walk. They buy things in stores. They use the post office, the fax and the telephone to send information. They see people face-to-face at their jobs or in stores. People get information from newspapers, radio, television, books and libraries.
In the new economy, people do business through the “net,” which is a connection of millions of computers everywhere in the world. In the new economy, workers often work at home. They can get information online. They can communicate with employers and co-workers by e-mail. Businesses have “virtual stores”. They are websites on which customers can see the products. Businesses can sell to customers anywhere in the world.
In the new economy, people live a fast paced, convenient and colorful life. The whole world develops more quickly than before. But the new economy is a double-edge sword. Its disadvantage is also obvious. For example, the Internet has led to a huge increase in credit card cheating. Some illegal websites offer some cheap or banned goods or services. Online shoppers who enter their credit card information may never receive the goods they want to buy and their card information could even be for sale in an illegal website. So people in the new economy should be smarter and knowledgeable.The cause of the differences between the new economy and the old economy is ____.
| A．the change of people’s idea | B．the business people do |
| C．the use of the Internet | D．the change of people’s life |
In the old economy, people can do the following things EXCEPT____.
| A．getting information from books |
| B．communicating with friends by telephone |
| C．meeting people face to face |
| D．shopping online |
“But the new economy is a double-edge sword ” in the last passage means_____.
| A．The new economy is as sharp as a sword |
| B．The new economy has advantages and disadvantages |
| C．The new economy is better than the old economy |
| D．Both the new economy and the old economy have disadvantages |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．People can get all kinds of information on the Internet. |
| B．Telephone, radio, television, newspapers and so on will disappear in the new economy. |
| C．People in the new economy should have high quality. |
| D．Life in the new economy is more comfortable than the one in the old economy. |
About ten years ago when I was an undergraduate in college in New York, I was working as a practice student at my University's Museum of Natural History. One day while I was working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in wheelchair.
As I looked closer at this girl, I saw that she was seated on her chair. I then realized she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and the trunk of the human body. She was wearing a little white dress with the patterns of red roses and yellow dots.
As the couple wheeled her up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink(眨眼示意). As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the most beautiful, largest smile I have ever seen
All of a sudden her handicap was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. I immediately felt full of hope and confidence. She took me, a poor, unhappy college student, into her world, a world of smiles, love and warmth.
That was ten years ago, but I still remember it clearly as if it happened just yesterday. I'm a successful business person now and whenever I get down and think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little girl and the remarkable lesson about life that she taught me.What was the writer a decade ago?
| A．A worker working in a university. |
| B．A teacher teaching in a college. |
| C．A clerk working in a museum. |
| D．A university student who had not yet taken a degree. |
What does the underlined world “handicap” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
| A．Life difficulty. | B．Troublesome problem. |
| C．Failure in work. | D．Physical disability. |
How did the writer probably feel before meeting the disabled girl?
| A．She felt full of hope. |
| B．She was filled with confidence. |
| C．She felt unhappy because of poverty. |
| D．She felt life was beautiful. |
Which of the following title suits this passage best?
| A．A Disabled Girl. |
| B．A Disabled Girl’s Smile. |
| C．Full of Hope. |
| D．Full of Confidence. |
Three wishes
A man and his wife were very poor. They kept hoping for new clothes and good food. The man enjoyed eating, and he especially liked cakes. One night an old woman came to their house and told them she would let them have three wishes. They could wish for anything they wanted.
The man had just finished eating a piece of bread for his dinner, but he was still hungry. He said, “I wish I had a big cake!”
Suddenly a cake appeared on his plate.
“You fool!” His wife cried. “You could have wished for a house full of wonderful food, but you wished for a cake. I wish that cake was on the end of your foolish nose! ”
Immediately the cake stuck to the end of his nose.
Then the man and his wife started blaming each other. “It’s your fault!” she man cried. “No, it’s your fault!” she answered. What could they do? The cake was still stuck to the husband’s nose.
“Oh!” the wife cried. “I wish none of this had ever happened!”
Immediately the cake was gone, and the man was saying, “I’m still hungry. How I wish I had some cakes! ”
But of course nothing happened.The man quarreled with his wife because ___.
| A．he always enjoyed eating |
| B．his wife hoped that he asked for a house |
| C．the cake stuck to the end of his nose according to his wife’s wish. |
| D．he didn’t want anything except cakes |
The wrong statement of the following is ___.
| A．the man made his wishes before dinner |
| B．the wife made two wishes, which worked |
| C．the wife wanted her husband to wish for more than a big cake |
| D．the man wished that the cake were not on his nose |
Why did the old woman not satisfy the man’s wish when he said he was still hungry and wanted some cakes?
| A．Because the old lady was angry with them |
| B．Because this was the fourth wish. |
| C．Because the man had made this wish before. |
| D．Because the cake had been gone. |
This year some twenty-three hundred teenagers(young people aged from13~19)from all over the world will spend about ten months in U.S. homes. They will attend U.S. schools, meet U.S. teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.
Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George’s family. In turn, George’s son Mike spent a year in Fred’s home in America.
Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’ study the language began to come to him. School was completely different from what he had expected—much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that are usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.
Family life, too, was different. The father’s word was law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual(个人). Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car.
“Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it.”
At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. “I suppose I should criticize(批评)American schools,” he said. “It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much. In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.”This year ________teenagers will take part in the exchange programme between America and other countries.
| A．twenty-three hundred |
| B．thirteen hundred |
| C．over three thousand |
| D．less than two thousand |
The whole exchange programme is mainly to__________.
| A．help teenagers in other countries know the real America |
| B．send students in America to travel in Germany |
| C．let students learn something about other countries |
| D．have teenagers learn new languages |
Fred and Mike agree that__________.
| A．America food tasted better than German food |
| B．German schools were harder than American schools |
| C．Americans and Germans were both friendly |
| D．There were more cars on the streets in America |
What is particular in American schools is that________.
| A．there is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings |
| B．there are a lot of after-school activities |
| C．students usually take fourteen subjects in all |
| D．students go out side to enjoy themselves in a car |
Which of the following is not true according to this passage?
A. There were few outside activities in Germany.
B. Fred had his own car when he was in America.
C. Subjects seemed easy for Mike in the USA.
D. All family activities were around the individual in Germany.
Our surroundings are being polluted faster than nature and man’s present efforts cannot prevent it. Time is bringing us more people, and more people will bring us more industry, more cars, larger cities, and the growing use of man-made materials.
What can explain and solve this problem? The fact is that pollution is caused by man — by his desire for a modern way of life. We make “increasing industrialization” our chief aim. So we are often ready to offer everything: clean air, pure water, good food, our health and the future of our children. There is a constant flow of people from the countryside into the cities, eager for the benefits of our modern society. But as our technological achievements have grown in the last twenty years, pollution has become a serious problem.
Isn’t it time we stopped to ask ourselves where we are going — and why? It makes one think of the story about the airline pilot who told his passengers over the loudspeaker, “I’ve some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we’re making rapid progress at 530 miles per hour. The bad news is that we’re lost and don’t know where we’re going.” The sad fact is that this becomes a true story when spoken of our modern society. Man cannot prevent the world from being polluted mainly because ______.
| A．the population of the world is decreasing fast |
| B．people use too many man-made materials |
| C．we have more and more industry |
| D．we are producing more cars, trucks and buses |
People crowd into the cities because ______.
| A．they want very much to find well-paid jobs |
| B．they are anxious to enjoy the achievements of our society |
| C．they have become tired of their homeland |
| D．they have a strong wish to become industrial workers |
According to the passage, what does man value most?
| A．Industry. | B．Health. |
| C．Clean air. | D．The future of the children. |
The story about the airline pilot tells us that ______.
| A．man knows where the society is going |
| B．people do not welcome the rapid development of modern society |
| C．man can do little about the problem of pollution |
| D．the writer is worried about the future of our society |
What does the writer really want to say in this passage?
| A．With the development of technology, pollution has become a serious problem. |
| B．Lower the speed of development to stop pollution. |
| C．It’s time we did something to reduce pollution. |
| D．As industry is growing fast, pollution is the natural result. |