Thereismorethanonereasonforwhi-优题课

A car that runs on coffee is unveiled（shown to the public for the first time）today but at between 25 and 50 times the cost of running a car on petrol, the invention won’t please any motor industry accountants．
Nicknamed the Car-puccino, it has been created using a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco bought for £400 and it was chosen because it looked like the time-traveling DeLorean in the movie Back To The Future．The car will be driven the 210 miles between Manchester and London powered only by roasted coffee granules （颗粒）．It has been built by a team from the BBC1 science programme Bang Goes The Theory and will go on display at the Big Bang science fair in Manchester to show how fuels other than traditional petrol can power vehicles．
The team calculates the Car-puccino will do three miles per kilo of ground coffee （咖啡粉） — about 56 cups of espressos （浓咖啡） per mile．The journey will use about 70 kilos of ground coffee which, at supermarket prices of between £13 and £26 a kilo depending on brand and quality, will cost between £910 and £1,820, or between 25 and 50 times the £36 cost of petrol for the journey．In total, the trip will cost 11,760 espressos, and the team will have to take ‘coffee breaks’ roughly every 30 to 45 miles to pour in more granules．They will also have to stop about every 60 miles to clean out the ‘coffee filters’ to rid them of the soot and tar which is also generated by the process．So despite a top speed of 60mph, the many stops mean the going will be slow, with the journey taking around ten hours．
Sadly, the inventors will still have to pay duty on their coffee fuel---even though tax collectors at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Custom haven’t yet worked out how much．
Nick Watson, producer of Bang Goes The Theory, said, “Coffee, like wood or coal, has some carbon content so you can use it as a fuel．The coffee needs to be very dry and in granules to allow the air to move through the pile of coffee as it burns．The brand doesn’t matter．” He said the same technology could be used to power a car on other unusual fuels, such as woodchips or nut shells, construction or agricultural waste．
Which is the right way to choose the coffee used as fuels to run the Car-puccino?

A．It should be very dry．	B．The stronger, the better．
C．The smaller the granules are, the better．	D．It should be of a certain brand．

What can be inferred from the passage?

A．All kinds of materials can be used as fuels．

B．The Car-puccino will be put into the market soon．

C．Nick Watson is the designer of the Car-puccino

D．Much remains to be improved for the Car-puccino．

The Car-puccino has its disadvantages EXCEPT that ________．

A．it makes a lot of noise

B．it runs at a very high cost

C．it has to stop to be refueled very often

D．it’s not good enough for long-distance journey

How much ground coffee will be used to cover a distance of 126 miles in this car?

A．About 70 kilos

B．About 42 kilos．

C．About 32 kilos

D．About 30 kilos

Why can coffee be used as a fuel?

A．It looks like wood or coal.	B．It contains some carbon content.
C．It is very cheap.	D．It is much better than woodchips or nut shells.

A study involving 8,500 teenagers from all social backgrounds found that most of them are ignorant when it comes to money. The findings, the first in a series of reports from NatWesl that has started a five-year research project into teenagers and money, are particularly worrying as this generation of young people is likely to be burdened with greater debts than any before.
University tuition fees (学费)are currently capped at £3,000 annually, but this will be reviewed next year and the Government is under enormous pressure to raise the ceiling.
In the research, the teenagers were presented with die terms of four different loans but 76 per cent failed to identify the cheapest. The young people also predicted that they would be earning on average £ 31.000 by the age of 25, although the average salary for those aged 22 to 29 is just £ 17,815. The teenagers expected to be in debt when they finished university or training, although half said that they assumed the debts would be less than £ 10.000. Average debts for graduates are £ 12，363.
Stephen Moir, head of community investment at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which owns NatWest, said. "The more exposed young people are to financial issues, and the younger they become aware of them, the more likely they are to become responsible, forward-planning adults who manage their finances confidently and effectively."
Ministers are deeply concerned about the financial pressures on teenagers and young people because of student loans and rising housing costs. They have just introduced new lessons in how to manage debts. Nikki Fairweather aged 15 from St Helens, said that she had benefited from lessons on personal finance, but admitted that she still had a lot to learn about money.
Which of the following can be found from the five-year research project?

A．Students understand personal finances differently.

B．University tuition fees in England have been rising.

C．Teenagers tend to overestimate their future earnings.

D．The students' payback ability has become a major issue.

The phrase "to raise the ceiling" in paragraph 2 probably means "______".

A．to raise the student loans	B．to improve the school facilities
C．to increase the upper limit of the tuition	D．to lift the school building roofs

According to Stephen Moir, students_______.

A．are too young to be exposed to financial issues

B．should learn to manage their finances well

C．should maintain a positive attitude when facing loans

D．benefit a lot from lessons on personal finance

What can we learn from the passage?

A．Many British teenagers do not know money matters well

B．Teenagers in Britain are heavily burdened with debts.

C．Financial planning is a required course at college.

D．Young people should become responsible adults.

Zoe Chambers was a successful PR (Public Relations) consultant and life was going well — she had a great job, a beautiful flat and a busy social life in London. Then one evening in June last year, she received a text message telling her she was out of work. The first two weeks were the most difficult to live through." she said. "After everything I'd done for the company, they dismissed me by text! I was so angry and I just didn't feel like looking for another job. I hated everything about the city and my life."
Then, Zoe received an invitation from an old school friend, Kathy, to come and stay. Kathy and her husband, Huw, had just bought a farm in north-west Wales. Zoe jumped at the chance to spend a weekend away from London, and now, ten months later, she is still on the farm.
"The moment I arrived at Kathy's farm, I loved it and I knew I wanted to stay." said Zoe. "Everything about my past life suddenly seemed meaningless."
Zoe has been working on the farm since October of last year and says she has no regrets. "It's a hard life, physically very tiring." she says. "In London I was stressed and often mentally exhausted. But this is a good, healthy tiredness. Here, all I need to put me in a good mood is a hot bath and one of Kathy's wonderful dinners."
Zoe says she has never felt bored on the farm. Every day brings a new experience. Kathy has been teaching her how to ride a horse and she has learnt to drive a tractor. Since Christmas, she has been helping with the lambing — watching a lamb being born is unbelievable, she says, "It's one of the most moving experiences I've ever had. I could never go back to city life now."
When working as a PR consultant in London, Zoe thought she lived a______life.

A．satisfying

B．tough

C．meaningless

D．boring

The most important reason why Zoe went to visit Kathy's farm is that______.

A．Zoe lost her job as a PR consultant	B．Kathy persuaded her to do so
C．Zoe got tired of the city life	D．Zoe loved Wales more than London

How does Zoe feel about the country life according to the passage?

A．Tiresome and troublesome.	B．Romantic and peaceful
C．Mentally exhausting but healthy	D．Physically tiring but rewarding.

Which of the following is closest to the main idea of the passage?

A．A friend in need is a friend indeed.	B．Where there is a will, there is a way.
C．A misfortune may turn out a blessing.	D．Kill two birds with one stone.

ASK LASKAS
YOU’VE GOT QUESTIONS. SHE'S GOT ANSWERS
My children go to a primary school where they are not allowed to play football in the playground for fear that a child might be hurt. Besides, now the school says there must be no homework because the local secondary school can't keep up with the amount of homework given in the primary school. Can the school do this?Puzzled Dad
It can't if enough parents do something about it. It is not just schools. We live in a society which wishes to get rid of risk. However, schools should have a little common sense and courage. Children need risk if they arc to grow up self-sufficient and confident. They need homework, too, if they are to fulfill their academic potential. Complain, loudly.
I have a beautiful teenage daughter who spends an hour making up her face in front of the mirror every day. I tell her to go easy. She just gets mad or bursts into tears. How can I make her understand she's beautiful the way she is.Plain Mom
You can't. Your daughter is at the age when she's trying to look beautiful, trying on new masks. And if her friends all dress up as she does, you're in for an extra hard time. Support her and tell her she's beautiful — even if she looks ridiculous for now. Then invite her to join you for a day at a spa. Let her try various looks until she's comfortable in her own skin.
Why are the children not allowed to play football in the playground?

A．The school is afraid that children might be injured.

B．The school is not sensible and confident.

C．The children don't have enough time to do homework.

D．The children may fail to fulfill their academic potential.

What disturbs Plain Mom is that her daughter______.

A．becomes mad	B．cries a lot
C．spends much time before the mirror	D．is not beautiful enough

The solution to Plain Mom's problem is to______.

A．make her daughter look less ridiculous	B．let her daughter dress up like her friends
C．make her daughter go to a spa every week	D．let her daughter feel herself what beauty is

What does the underlined word spa mean?

A．a place where water with minerals in it	B．a place where people can relax
C．a beauty salon	D．a swimming pool

Lillian Hanson, a college student, expects to graduate in about two years．What makes Mrs．Hanson different from her classmates is her age-----73 years．She has been studying at college, a few courses at a time, for 27 years．
When Lillian Hanson graduated from high school, she went to the bank to borrow money for further education．The banker gave her no encouragement．He didn’t think that a country girl should borrow money to go to college．He thought she should be at home doing work in the house or around the farm．So Lillian Hanson went home and raised a family of nine children instead of going to college．Mrs．Hanson never forgot her dream of getting a higher education．When her children were grown, she tried again．
She finds that it is the hardest part of going back to school at her age to sit in class for long periods of time．Because she is not as quick as she used to be, Mrs．Hanson often gets up and walks around classes to keep from getting stiff（不灵活）．At the beginning of a course in using the computer, the other students all stood up to give her a warm welcome when she introduced herself and explained why she was there and what her aims were．
Mrs．Hanson couldn’t go to college immediately after she graduated from high school because ____

A．she hadn’t got enough money

B．she was a country girl

C．the banker ordered her not to borrow any money

D．the banker thought she should raise a family of nine children

The computer students welcomed Mrs．Hanson warmly because ______．

A．she had got an excellent result in the exam

B．she was good at telling funny stories

C．they wanted to get her help in their studies

D．they were deeply moved by her spirit

Mrs．Hanson is the sort of person who ________．

A．cares for study very much

B．likes to borrow money from the bank

C．never misses a chance to talk

D．tries to save any money for her family

In which order did Mrs．Hanson do the following things?
a．she began her studies at college．
b．She finished high school．
c．She got married and gave birth of nine children．
d．She had her 73 rd birthday．
e．She went to the bank to borrow money．

A．a c b e d

B．b e c a d

C．b c e d a

D．e d a c b

A．In a newspaper.	B．On the Internet.
C．In a magazine.	D．In a guide book.