The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of 2 September 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. One hundred thousand people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives.
The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King's baker(面包师)in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window in the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery(面包房)into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.
By eight o'clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul's and the Guildhall among them.
Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, wrote about the fire. People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat.
The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire. With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.
After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect(建筑师), wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow; but he did build more than fifty churches, among them new St Paul's.
The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.The fire began in .
| A．a hotel | B．the palace | C．Pudding Lane | D．Thames Street |
The underlined word "family" in the second paragraph means .
| A．home | B．children | C．wife and husband | D．wife and children |
How was the fire put out according to the text?
| A．The king and his soldiers came to help. |
| B．All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed. |
| C．People managed to get enough water from the river. |
| D．Houses standing in the direction of the fire were pulled down. |
Which of the following were reasons for the rapid spread of the big fire?
(a)There was a strong wind. (b)The streets were very narrow.
(c)Many houses were made of wood. (d)There was not enough water in the city.
(e)People did not discover the fire earlier.
| A．(a)and(b) | B．(a),(b)and(c) | C．(a),(b),(c)and(d) | D．(a),(b),(c)(d)and(e) |
B
Banquets are usually held in restaurants in private rooms that have been reserved for the purpose. You will be met at the door and led to the banquet room. Traditionally, the head of your delegation should enter the room first. Do not be surprised if your hosts greet you with a loud round of applause. The proper response is to applaud back.
Seating arrangements are stricter than in the West. Guests should never assume that they may sit where they please and should wait for hosts to guide them to their places. Traditionally, the Chinese regard the right side as the superior and the left side as the inferior. Therefore on formal occasions, the host invariably arranges for the main guests to sit on his right side.
It is the host's responsibility to serve the guests, and at very formal banquets people do not begin to eat until the host has served a portion to the principal guest. Or, the host may simply raise his chopsticks and announce that eating has begun. After this point, one may serve oneself any food in any amount. Remember to go slow on eating. Don't fill yourself up when five courses are left to go. To stop eating in the middle of a banquet is rude, and your host may incorrectly think that something has been done to offend you.
Drinking takes an important place in Chinese banquets. It is likely that the host will stand and hold his glass out with both hands while saying a few words. When he says the words "gan bei", which means bottoms up, all present should drain their glasses. After this initial toast, drinking and toasting are open to all. No words are needed to make a toast, and it is not necessary to drain your glass, although to do so is more respectful. When filling another glass, it is polite to fill it as full as you can. This symbolizes full respect and friendship.
When the last dish is finished, the banquet has officially ended. There is little ceremony involved with its conclusion. The host may ask if you have eaten your fill. Then the principal host will rise, signaling that the banquet has ended. Generally, the principal host will bid good evening to everyone at the door and stay behind to settle the bill with the restaurateur. Other hosts usually accompany guests to their vehicles and remain outside waving until the cars have left the premises.To attend a formal banquet,you_______.
| A．may enter the banquet room directly when you arrive . |
| B．may stop eating in the middle of the banquet. |
| C．may help yourself to any food immediately the dishes are served. |
| D．should applaud back when greeted with a loud round of applause . |
What is the host ‘s responsibility in the author’s eyes?
| A．Announcing that eating ends. |
| B．Driving guests to their home. |
| C．Filling the guests’ glasses. |
| D．Arranging for guests to go to their place.. |
We can conclude form the passage that____
| A．To stop eating halfway means that the dishes taste bad. |
| B．Guests should drain their g1ass es the instant they are filled |
| C．Important guests are arranged to sit on the host’s right side |
| D．The more you drink , the more you respect the host. |
The passage mainly tells us ____
| A．Chinese food is delicious. |
| B．customs and traditions at banquets in China |
| C．what food guests should eat at banquets |
| D．different customs between China and western countries. |
A
Before he sailed round the world alone, Francis Chichester had already surprised his friends several times. He had tried to fly round the world but failed. That was in 1931.
The years passed. He gave up flying and began sailing. He enjoyed it greatly. Chichester was already 58 years old when he won the first solo transatlantic sailing race. His old dream of going round the world came back, but this time he would sail.His friends and doctors did not think he could do it, as he had lung cancer. But Chichester was determined to carry out his plan. In August 1966, at the age of nearly 65, an age when many men retire, he began the greatest voyage of his life.
Chichester covered 14100 miles before stopping in Sydney, Australia. This was more than twice the distance anyone had previously sailed alone. He arrived in Australia on 12 December, just 107 days out from England. He received a warm welcome from the Australians and from his family who had flown there to meet him. On shore, Chichester could not walk without help. Everybody said the same thing: he had done enough; he must not go any further. But he did not listen.
After resting in Sydney for a few weeks, Chichester set off once more in spite of his friends' attempts to dissuade him. The second half of his voyage was by far the more dangerous part, during which he sailed round the treacherous Cape Horn.After succeeding in sailing round Cape Horn, Chichester sent the following radio message to London: "I feel as if I had wakened from a nightmare. Wild horses could not drag me down to Cape Horn and that sinister Southern Ocean again."
Just before 9 o'clock on Sunday evening 28 May 1967, he arrived back in England, where a quarter of a million people were waiting to welcome him.Queen Elizabeth II knighted(授以爵位) him with the very sword that Queen Elizabeth I had used almost 400 years earlier to knight Sir Francis Drake after he had sailed round the world for the first time.The whole voyage from England and back had covered 28,500 miles. It had taken him nine months, of which the sailing time was 226 days. He had done what he wanted to accomplish.What can we learn about Chichester?
| A．He failed the solo transatlantic sailing race in 1959. |
| B．He was a brave and determined man. |
| C．The second half of his voyage was not as dangerous as the first half. |
| D．The radio message expressed his concern about the sailing. |
What did Queen Elizabeth II do after Chichester arrived back in England?
| A．She called on the English to learn form him. |
| B．She was waiting to congratulate on his success in sailing. |
| C．She thought poorly of his achievements. |
| D．She knighted him for praising him. |
We can infer from the text that ____
| A．Anyone who had sailed alone traveled less than 7050miles before 1966 |
| B．Chichester sailed round the Atlantic in 1931 |
| C．Most of the English retire at the age of 65 |
| D．Chichester died of lung cancer in 1967 after he went back to England |
E
Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist, in the tradition of George Eliot, he was also influenced both in his novels and poetry by Romanticism, especially by William Wordsworth. Charles Dickens is another important influence on Thomas Hardy. Like Dickens, he was also highly critical of much in Victorian society, though Hardy focused more on a declining rural society.
While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life, and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially therefore he gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). However, since the 1950s Hardy has been recognized as a major poet, and had asignificantinfluence on The Movement poets of the 1950s and 1960s, including Phillip Larkin.
The majority of his fictional works,initiallypublished as serials in magazines, were set in the semi-fictional region of Wessex and explored tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances. Hardy's Wessex is based on the medieval（中世纪的）Anglo-Saxon kingdom and eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire and much of Berkshire, in southwest and south central England.Which of the follow is Not true according to the 1st paragraph?
| A．Hardy was influenced both in his novels and poetry by Romanticism. |
| B．William Wordsworth was a Victorian realist. |
| C．Charles Dickens highly criticized much of Victorian society. |
| D．Hardy cared more about rural society. |
Which of the following is Not Hardy’s works?
| A．Far from the Madding Crowd | B．The Mayor of Casterbridge |
| C．Tess of the D'Urbervilles | D．Great Expectations |
Most of Hardy’s fictional works_____.
| A．were originallypublished in magazines. |
| B．were set in the fictional region of Wessex. |
| C．explored comedic characters. |
| D．were based on Anglo-Saxon kingdom |
It can infer from the passage that_____.
| A．Hardy wrote poetry occasionally in his life |
| B．Hardy’s poetry collection was never published |
| C．Hardy wasn’t recognized as a major poet until the 1950s. |
| D．Phillip Larkin had a great influence on Hardy. |
D
Dogs can be trained to identify the smell of lung cancer long before symptoms develop.
A new study is the first to show that sniffer dogs can be relied upon to find the unique smell of the disease of in 7 out of 10 sniffers. Researchers from a hospital in Germany believe dogs could become even better at picking out cancer cases with more training, but the final goal is to identify the cancer-specific chemical compounds the dogs can smell, and develop a device that could be used to help diagnose lung-cancer victims at an earlier stage.
Lung cancer is Britain’s deadliest cancer, with over 39.000 cases diagnosed annually, of which only 25 percent will survive for a year, since the disease is mostly found at an advanced stage, when it is very difficult to treat. Early detection is often by chance, although scientists have been working on using samples of exhaled(呼出的) breath from patients for future screening. They attempt to use the samples to locate volatile organic compounds(VOCs) in the breath that are linked to the presence of cancer, but no reliable methods have been found so far that are lung-specific.
The researchers combined this approach with recent findings about the abilities of some dogs to alert their owners to undiagnosed cancer, probably through smell. This latest study used family dogs, which were given special training over an 11-week period to identify a VOC in the breath of patient.
The researches worked with 220 volunteers, including patients with lung cancer at early and advanced stage, patients with chronic pulmonary disease(慢性肺炎), and healthy volunteers. The dogs took part in a number of tests to see if they could reliably distinguish compounds in the breath of lung-cancer patients-even if they smoked. The dogs were asked to sniff glass tubes containing cotton impregnated(浸染) with samples of breath from those taking part and had to lie down if they detected a VOC from a lung cancer patient.
The dogs successfully identified 71 samples with lung cancer out of a possible 100. They also correctly detected 372 samples that did not have lung cancer out of a posible 400.What can we conclude from the research according to the passage?
| A．The volunteers included patients with various cancer successfully |
| B．It used police dogs specially trained over a period. |
| C．It aimed to see if dogs could sniff cancer-specific compounds. |
| D．The dogs identified 372 samples with lung cancer successfully. |
We can infer from the passage that a VOC is probably a kind of _____.
| A．liquid | B．drug | C．equipment | D．chemical |
Which of the following is Not true according to the passage?
| A．The research involved about a hundred dogs in all. |
| B．Dogs can usually detect the lung cancer patients well. |
| C．There are about 39,000 lung-cancer patients in Britain every year. |
| D．Lung cancer is Britain’s biggest cancer killer. |
What can be the best title of the passage?
| A．A New Way to Treat Cancer |
| B．A New Way to Detect Disease |
| C．Dogs Can Sniff out Cancer |
| D．Dogs Can Protect People from Cancer |
C
A person, like a commodity, needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exaggeration, however, does no harm when it shows the person's unique qualities to their advantage. To display personal charm in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself. A master packager knows how to combine art and nature without any traces of modification, so that the person so packaged is no commodity but a human being, lively and lovely.
A young person, especially a female, shining with beauty and full of life, has all the favor granted by God. Any attempt to make up would be self-defeating. Youth, however, comes and goes in a moment of doze. Packaging for the middle-aged is primarily to repair the furrows(磨损) ploughed by time. If you still enjoy life's enthusiasm enough to keep self-confidence and pursue pioneering work, you are unique in your natural qualities, and your charm and grace will remain. Elderly people are beautiful if their river of life has been, through plains, mountains and jungles, running its course as it should. You have really lived your life which now arrives at a complacent stage of serenity indifferent to fame or wealth. There is no need to resort to hair-dyeing-the snow-capped mountain is itself a beautiful scene of fairyland. Let your looks change from young to old synchronizing(同步) with the natural aging process so as to keep in harmony with nature, for harmony itself is beauty, while the other way round will only end in unpleasantness. To be in the elder's company is like reading a thick book of elegant edition that fascinates one so much as to be willing to part with.
As long as one finds where one stands, one knows how to package oneself, just as a commodity establishes its brand by the right packaging.In writer’s opinion, to show one’s personal charm casually and naturally, one ought to _____.
| A．package himself exaggeratedly. |
| B．know well about himself. |
| C．find a master packager. |
| D．care nothing about others |
To make a packaged person lively and lovely instead of a mere commodity, a packager should know _____.
| A．how to use the latest package technology. |
| B．how to mix art and modification. |
| C．how to bring out unique qualities. |
| D．how to keep natural without decoration |
Which of the following is True according to the passage?
| A．It’s wise for a young person to do some make-up. |
| B．Packaging for the middle-aged is basically to repair the trace of time. |
| C．Accompanying the elder is like reading an old and simple book. |
| D．One knows how to package oneself wherever he stands. |
What’s the author’s real attitude toward packaging?
| A．Positive | B．Negative |
| C．Indifferent | D．Cautious |