Let’s say you have a piece of wood, a nail, and hammer. Pretend the wood is a person, the nail is a mean rumor (谣言) about that person. If you hammer in the nail, you’re obviously hurting him or her. If you then pull out the nail, there’s still a hole in the wood, and the damage has been done.
There are many reasons why that nail of a rumor can be so harmful. Rumors are, quite simply, a form of bullying (欺悔). When a person or a group makes up a rumor about someone or decides to spread gossip, it’s usually to hurt someone, break up a friendship, or make someone less popular. It’s the same thing as teasing, only it’s done behind someone’s back instead of to his or her face.
When you spread a rumor about someone, you’re sending a signal that the person is outside of the group, and somehow less worthy of friendship than others. You’re making fun of that person or pointing out negative things about him or her. This can let others think that it’s okay to make the person feel bad, and make him or her an outsider.
We need to be able to trust our friends, and gossip and rumors can break this trust. If you tell a personal secret to a friend, and he turns around and tells it to someone else, you might feel like you will get burned if you ever get close to him again.
Letting a rumor influence your behavior is like letting someone else make a big decision for you. Let’s say you hear that the teacher plans to call a Snow Day tomorrow because a blizzard (暴风雪) is coming. Expecting a day off, you don’t do your homework. The next morning, the blizzard turns out to be nothing more than a drizzle（毛毛雨）, and school isn’t off after all. You get zeroes on your work.The purpose of the first paragraph is to .
| A．help readers know what a rumor is | B．attract readers to read the following paragraphs |
| C．emphasize the damaging effects of rumors | D．explain how a rumor spreads |
To tell a rumor and a tease apart, you depend on .
| A．whether it is done behind someone | B．whether it is painful or not |
| C．whether it is a kind if bullying | D．whether it is spread fast |
If a rumor is spread about someone, others may .
| A．point out his or her advantages | B．keep away from him or her |
| C．not feel he or she is an outsider | D．be hurt if getting close to him or her again |
From the last paragraph, we can infer that .
| A．it is hard to keep rumors a secret | B．rumors can destroy your interest in learning |
| C．believing rumors can lead to bad choices | D．rumors can control your whole life |
The purpose of this passage is to .
| A．advise on how to deal with rumors | B．teach us how to judge a rumor |
| C．find out why rumors spread fast | D．explain why rumors hurt |
When Peng Liyuan stepped off the plane in Moscow, the whole world wanted to know who dressed the elegant first lady．The reporter released the secret—Ma Ke．
Peng Liyuan has been wearing Ma Ke’s designs for more than a decade，a fact that was only highlighted recently when she was on her first state visit，accompanying her husband President Xi Jinping．The elegant and attractive Peng，formerly a popular singer, has been pared with the US’ first lady Michelle Obama and France’s Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, since stepping off the airplane in Moscow on March 22．Suddenly, everyone was curious to know more about the first lady’s wardrobe(衣橱)．
Even so，Ma prefers a low key approach．“If you eat a tasty egg why would you want to see the hen?” she says．
Ma’s relationship with Peng began 10 years ago after a concert in Guangzhou when a reporter told Peng she knew the designer behind the label Exception de Mixmind．Peng asked for an introduction because she was a fan of Ma’s designs and had been wearing them for years．
The two naturally became friends．Ma says：“The painting reflects the painter, and clothes reflect both the designer and the wearer．Someone desires fame and wealth，or love and sympathy；what you have in your heart is reflected in the design．Those who don’t share my philosophy won’t buy my clothes．Peng is a caring person，devoted to charity and environmental protection，which is exactly what I’m doing now．”
However, regardless of the brand，Peng’s support of Chinese labels has surprised millions of Chinese who favor foreign fashion brands．
“Instead she presented a vision of Chinese fashion，desiring to bring Chinese designers to the world stage，”says a western designer．
The first lady’s double-breasted coat and her black leather handbag aren’t available at any of Exception’s shops，though Exception’s physical stores do have seen a rising number of visitors．What does the underlined word in paragraph 1 mean?
| A．opened | B．invented |
| C．forecast | D．hid |
In the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 Ma Ke mentioned “an egg and the hen” to show ______．
| A．it is hard to explain“ Which came first，the egg or the hen?” |
| B．the designer is more important than the design |
| C．paying such great attention to her was unnecessary |
| D．her satisfaction with the media attention on her dress |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．First ladies pete with each other whenever they are together. |
| B．Peng’s suits can be bought in Ma Ke’s clothes stores |
| C．Ma Ke’s opinions are totally different from Peng’s |
| D．Peng had liked Ma’s designs long before they met each other. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Peng wears the dress designed by a Chinese designer probably to support Chinese brands. |
| B．Many citizens found Peng Liyuan’s choice quite unexpected. |
| C．Black leather handbags like Peng’s are widely sold in bag stores in big cities. |
| D．After Peng Liyuan’s visit to Moscow Ma Ke’s clothes became more popular |
We offer five kinds of courses. Each course has been designed to help students according to their needs.
Course 1: General English
General English is designed to develop students’ basic communication skills in speaking and pronunciation, reading, listening, writing, grammar and vocabulary. Tuesday to Friday: 9:00 am to 11:00 am, $ 288 per week.
Course 2: Academic English
Academic English is for students who want to take the IELTS exam or for those who need to use English in a professional area. Monday to Friday: 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, $ 320 per week.
Course 3: High School ESL
Why not make the most of your time studying in Australia with the help from TIES? We have High School ESL classes each week specifically designed for international students. Tuesday to Friday: 8:00 am to 11:00 am, $ 25 per hour.
Course 4: Night Classes
Do you want to improve your English and get the best possible results in your GRE test? We have two night classes each week designed to meet your needs. Tuesday and Thursday evenings: 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm, $ 60 per day.
Course 5: One on One
If you are interested in some One on One lessons with TIES teachers, we can design a course to meet your needs. One on One lessons can improve your English language skills more quickly and help students who want to take TOEFL. Tuesday to Friday: 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm, $ 80 per hour.If you are an English beginner, you’d better choose .
| A．General English | B．High School ESL |
| C．Night Classes | D．Academic English |
Which course would be helpful for students who want to take the IELTS exam?
| A．Course 1. | B．Course 2. |
| C．Course 3. | D．Course 4. |
How much will you pay if you spend two weeks taking the High School ESL course?
| A．$ 200. | B．$ 300. |
| C．$ 500. | D．$ 600. |
What can we learn from One on One according to the passage?
| A．Its lessons are given in the morning. |
| B．It’s especially designed for English beginners. |
| C．It’s more expensive than the other courses. |
| D．Its lessons are designed to only improve writing skills. |
There was a gardener who looked after his garden with great care .To water his flowers, he used two buckets(水桶) .One was a shiny and new bucket. The other was a very old and dilapidated one，which had seen many years of service, but was now past its best.
Every morning, the gardener would fill up the two buckets. Then he would carry them along the path, one on each side, to the flowerbeds. The new bucket was very proud of itself. It could carry a full bucket of water without a single drop spilled (溢出). The old bucket felt very ashamed because of its holes: before it reached the flowerbeds, much water had leaked (漏出) along the path.
Sometimes the new bucket would say,“ See how capable I am ! How good it is that the gardener has me to water the flowers every day! I don't know why he still bothers with you. What a waste of space you are!”
And all that the old bucket could say was. “ I know I am not very useful, but I can only do my best. I am happy that the gardener still finds a little bit of use in me, at least.”
One day, the gardener heard that kind of conversation .After watering the flowers as usual, he said , “You both have done your work very well .Now I am going to carry you back .I want you to look carefully along the path.”
Then the two buckets did so. All along the path, they noticed, on the side where the new bucket was carried, there was just bare（光秃秃的）earth; on the other side where the old bucket was carried, there was a joyous row of wild flowers, leading all the way to the garden.What was the old bucket ashamed of?
| A．His past. | B．His aging. |
| C．His manner. | D．His leaking. |
What does the underlined word “dilapidated” probably mean?
| A．dirty | B．dark |
| C．worn-out | D．ordinary-looking. |
The new bucket made conversations with the old one mainly to _________.
| A．take pity on the old one |
| B．laugh at the old one |
| C．show off its beautiful looks |
| D．praise the gardener’s kindness |
Why was the old bucket still kept by the gardener?
| A．Because it was used to keep a balance |
| B．Because it stayed in its best condition |
| C．Because it had its own function |
| D．Because it was taken as a treasure |
Every time you go to the supermarket you come away with your purchases packed in plastic bags. But wouldn’t it be kinder to the environment if you asked for paper bags instead?
The answer is not as easy as it might seem. Environmentalists say there are drawbacks to using both plastic bags and paper bags.
80 percent of groceries in the US are packed in plastic bags and the numbers are becoming huge. Consumers use between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags per year worldwide.
Some experts believe that all these bags harm the environment. Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down and, as it does so, poisonous materials are released into the water and soil.
Further damage is caused if plastic bags enter the sea. For example, endangered sea turtles cannot tell the bags from jellyfish, their main source of food, and often choke on them.
However, this kind of bag does have its advantages.
Paper bags use more energy and create more waste than plastic bags. Plastic bags require 40 percent less energy to produce and cause 70 percent less air pollution. They also release as much as 94 percent less waste into the water than paper ones do.
But paper bags do break down more quickly than plastic bags. They don’t endanger wildlife, either.
So what should we do? One possible solution would be to use biodegradable plastic bags. “Biodegradable” means that the bags break down naturally just like a piece of banana peel when it is left outside.
But until biodegradable technology improves, it might be easier to pack things you buy in reusable cloth bags.Compared to paper bags, plastic bags ______.
| A．produce 6 percent more waste |
| B．can be made biodegradable more easily |
| C．can be used as a source of food |
| D．save 40 percent of the energy |
By saying “The answer is not as easy as it might seem,” (in paragraph 2) the writer means _____.
A. biodegradable plastic bags can compete with paper
B. paper bags seem to be kind to environment
C. it’s difficult to say whether plastic or paper bags are better for the environmentWhat does the author suggest people use at the present time?
| A．Paper bags |
| B．Plastic bags |
| C．Biodegradable plastic bags. |
| D．Cloth bags. |
Without proper planning, tourism can cause problems. For example, too many tourists can crowd public places that are also enjoyed by the inhabitants of a country. If tourists create too much traffic, the inhabitants become annoyed and unhappy. They begin to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely. They forget how much tourism can help the country and how tourism affects them. Tourism should help a country keep the customs and beauty that attract tourists. Tourism should also advance the well-being (health and happiness) of local inhabitants.
Too much tourism can be a problem. If tourism grows too quickly, people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry. This means that other parts of the country’s economy can suffer.
On the other hand, if there is not enough tourism, people can lose jobs. Businesses can also lose money. It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels, airports, air terminals, first-class roads, and other support facilities needed by tourist attractions. For example, a major international-class tourism hotel can cost as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build. If this room is not used most of the time, the owners of the hotel lose money.
Building a hotel is just a beginning. There must be many support facilities as well, including roads to get to the hotel, electricity, sewers（阴沟） to handle waste, arid water. All of these support facilities cost money. If they are not used because there are not enough tourists, jobs and money are lost.Which of the following has most probably been discussed in the paragraph that goes before the passage?
| A．It is extremely important to develop tourism. |
| B．Building roads and hotels is essential. |
| C．Support facilities are highly necessary. |
| D．Planning is of great importance to tourism. |
Too much tourism can cause all these problems EXCEPT ______.
A. a bad impact on other industries
B. A change of tourists’ customs
C. overcrowdedness of places of interestIt is good for local people to be well aware that tourism will _____.
| A．use up a large amount of water |
| B．weaken their economy |
| C．help establish their traditions |
| D．help improve their life |