it tastes just chicken
Away from home, eating is more than just a way to keep your stomach full．It is a language all its own, and no words can say, "Glad to meet you ．．．glad to be doing business with you ．．．" quite like sharing a meal offered by your host．
Clearly, mealtime is not the time for you to say, "Thanks, but no thanks．" Acceptance of the food on your plate means acceptance of host, country, and company．So, no matter how difficult it may be to swallow, swallow．Or, as one experienced traveler says, "Travel with a cast-iron stomach and eat everything everywhere．"
Often, the food offered represents proudly your host country's eating culture．What would Ataiericans think of a French person who refused to take a bite of homemade apple pie or sirloin? Our discomfort comes not so much from the thing itself; it comes from our umamiliarity with it．After all, an oyster has remarkably the same look as a sheep's eye; and a first look at a lobster would remind almost anybody of a creature from a science fiction movie, not something you dip in butter and eat．By the way, in Saudi Arabia sheep's eyes are a famous dish and in parts of China it's bear's paw soup．
Can you refuse such food without being rude? Most experienced business travelers say no, at least not before taking at least a few bites．It helps, though, to slice any item very thin．This way, you minimize the taste and the reminder of where it came from．Or, " Swallow it quickly, " as one traveler recommends．"I still can't tell you what sheep's eyeballs taste like．" As for dealing with taste, the old line that "it tastes just like chicken" is often thankfully true．Even when the "it" is really rat or snake．
Another useful piece of advice is not knowing what you are eating．What's for dinner? Don't ask． Avoid glancing into the kitchen or looking at English-language menus．Your host will be pleased that you are eating the food he offers, and who knows? Maybe it really is chicken in that soup．The purpose of the article is to ____．
| A．introduce unfamiliar food |
| B．share the writer's personal experiences |
| C．suggest ways to overcome a cultural barrier |
| D．advise on how to politely refuse to eat foreign food |
According to the writer, people hesitate at strange food mainly due to ____．
| A．the way it looks | B．safety worries |
| C．lack of information about it | D．the unfamiliar atmosphere |
From the article we can infer that ____．
| A．an American may feel comfortable with sirloin |
| B．one should refuse strange food after a few bites |
| C．English-language menus are not always dependable |
| D．one needs a cast-iron stomach to travel in other cultures |
One may say "It tastes just like chicken．" when ____．
| A．showing respect for chicken-loving nations |
| B．greeting people with different dieting habits |
| C．evaluating chefs at an international food festival |
| D．getting someone to try a visually unpleasant meal |
Speaking from my past experience, it is very difficult to find good friends that you can trust but once you have found them, they are worth keeping forever! Therefore, I think friendship is the most important relationship that anybody could have.
The qualities I look for in a friend are a good sense of humor but sensitivity when it matters. Also that friend would have to be strong-minded and highly spirited. I think that these qualities are the key qualities to look for in a good friend.
Even the strongest friends can still have arguments, although usually about more serious topics, rather than the usual teenage childish arguments. Some matters can seriously affect a friendship. If one of your friends started experimenting with harmful and dangerous drugs, what would you do ? A good friend would try to help as much as possible, whereas a bad example of a friend would simply shrug(耸肩) and turn a blind eye.
Not only the bad things affect friendship ---- good activities do too. Such as bonding with one another, not just by going out on a night with them but by spending quality time with them and talking to each other, which indicates a good ability to communicate. This is a key aspect of a good friendship.
Good friends do not always have to be in the same age group as you. I have a good friend and she is 47 years old and I am 16.
Unfortunately, some people lose contact with their friends as they grow older, which is a sad way to lose a good friend.
I think friendship is one of the most important things in life because if you have no friends you will have no happiness.According to the author, true friendship _______.
| A．is easy to get |
| B．deepens with time |
| C．needs management |
| D．affects one’s happiness |
Paragraph 3 is mainly about______.
| A．why drugs are bad for teenagers |
| B．problems that will test friendship |
| C．ways that help avoid arguments |
| D．whether a friend is trustworthy |
According to the author, which matters least in friendship?
| A．Age. |
| B．Sensitivity. |
| C．Sense of humor. |
| D．Communication ability. |
Which of the following saying can match the author’s view on friendship?
| A．Old friends and old wines are best. |
| B．A friend without faults will never be found. |
| C．A life without a friend is a life without the sun. |
| D．a friend to everybody is a friend to nobody. |
A new generation addiction is quickly spreading all over the world. Weboholism（网瘾）, a twentieth century disease, affects people from different ages. They surf the net, use e-mail and speak in chat rooms. They spend many hours on the computer, and it becomes a compulsive habit. They cannot stop, and it affects their lives.
Ten years ago, no one thought that using computers could become compulsive behavior that could affect the social and physical life of computer users. Such behavior has seriously affected teenagers and college students. They are likely to log(写日志) on computers and spend long hours at different websites.
They become hooked（着迷） on computers and gradually their social and school life is affected by this situation. They spend all free time surfing and don’t concentrate on homework, so this addiction influences their grades and success at school. Because they can find everything on the websites, they hang out there. Moreover, this addiction to websites influences their social life.
They spend more time in front of computers than with their friends. The relation with their friends changes. The virtual life becomes more important than their real life. They have a new language that they speak in the chat rooms and it causes cultural changes in society.
Because of the change in their behavior, they begin to isolate themselves from society and live with their virtual friends. They share their emotions and feelings with friends who they have never met in their life. Although they feel confident on the computer, they are not confident with real live friends they have known all their life. It is a problem for the future. This addictive behavior is beginning to affect all the world.
The main idea of the passage is about__________.
| A．the cause of weboholism |
| B．the advantage of weboholism |
| C．the popularity of weboholism |
| D．the effect of weboholism |
We can infer from the passage that_______.
| A．weboholism has the greatest effect on teenagers |
| B．students can hardly balance real and virtual life |
| C．people are addicted to games on the Internet |
| D．virtual life is more vivid and attractive than real life. |
Which of the following is NOT true of weboholism?
| A．It contributes to the development of the web. |
| B．The chat room language may change social culture. |
| C．The problem will be getting more and more serious later. |
| D．People addicted to the web often become inactive in real life. |
When I was a child, I often dreamed of the time when I could leave home and escape to the city. We lived on a farm and, in the winter especially, we were quite cut off from the outside world. As soon as I left school, I packed my bags and moved to the capital. However, I soon discovered that city life has its problems too.
One big disadvantage is money---it costs so much to go out, not to mention basics like food and housing. Another disadvantage is pollution. I suffer from asthma(哮喘), and at times the air is so bad that I am afraid to go outside. Then there is the problem of travelling round. Although I have a car, I seldom use it because of the traffic jams. One choice is to go by bicycle, but that can be quite dangerous.
Of course there are advantages. First, there is so much to do in the city, whatever your tastes in culture or entertainment. Besides, there are wonderful jobs and greater chances of moving to a more important job or position. Finally, if you like shopping, the variety of goods is very surprising---and, what is more, shops are often only a short walk away.
Is life better then, in the city? Perhaps it is, when you are in your teens(十几岁) or twenties. However, as you get older, and especially if you have small children, the peace of the countryside may seem preferable. I certainly hope to move back there soon.What was the writer always thinking about when he was a child?
| A．Staying on the farm |
| B．Moving to the countryside |
| C．Leaving home for the city |
| D．Running away from the school |
Which of the following is true about the writer?
| A．He is very old now. |
| B．He is in good health. |
| C．He prefers driving a car. |
| D．He lives in the city now. |
In the passage, the writer tries to _______.
| A．express his opinions about way of life |
| B．describe his life in the countryside |
| C．show an interest in the outside world |
| D．persuade the reader to live in the city |
How is the passage mainly developed?
| A．By inferring |
| B．By comparing |
| C．By listing examples |
| D．By giving explanations |
According to researchers, money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else．
Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly bring you happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School found.
Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably（适度地） happier when they spent money on others---even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.
"We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn," said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia.
They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity（慈善机构）．
"Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not," Dunn said in a statement.
Dunn's team also surveyed（调查）16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus（奖金） of between $3,000 and $8,000.
"Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social（有益社会的） spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor(预示) of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself," they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it．Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.
"These findings suggest that very minor alterations（改动） in spending allocations（分配） --- as little as $5 --- may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day," Dunn said.According to the passage,_____________.
| A．the more money you spend on others, the happier you are |
| B．spending money on others can bring you happiness |
| C．Elizabeth Dunn is a psychologist from Harvest Business School |
| D．six hundred volunteers took part in the experiment |
The 16 employees mentioned in the passage _________.
| A．were given clear instructions on how to spend the bonus |
| B．had more happiness than the size of the bonus itself |
| C．experienced greater happiness after receiving their bonus |
| D．felt happier after they contributed much of the bonus to charities |
Dunn’s statement suggested that ______________.
| A．those who spent money on others felt happier no matter how much they earned |
| B．those who spent more money on themselves felt happier |
| C．people thought spending money could make themselves happier |
| D．the money spent was as important as the money earned |
The best title of this passage is ___________.
| A．Experiment on Money Spending |
| B．Devoting Your Money to Charities |
| C．Spending Money on Others Makes One Happier |
| D．Bonus and Pro-social Spending |
Horton
At first glance, there is little in Horton to attract people. The other nearby towns have much more to offer: Bradfield has its river and historic buildings, while Newtown has shops and entertainment. The buildings of Horton look dirty and unloved. For shops, there is a small supermarket, a few bargain shops, a bakery which, strangely, does not sell bread and a florist which has one stand of sad-looking flowers. Even so, Horton has several advantages over its neighbouring towns.
Firstly, it has a country park. Four thousand years ago, this was an important fort. There are no historic remains here now, but there are wonderful views over the countryside. On sunny weekends you can often see kids out with their parents, kicking balls or flying kites.
There aren’t many job opportunities in Horton, and the roads to nearby cities aren’t really fast, but there are excellent rail links. You can be in London in an hour and a half, and other cities are less than an hour away. That means that parents can earn a good salary and still get home in time to spend the evenings with their families. Houses in Horton aren’t pretty, but they’re functional and cheap. The streets are quiet and safe, and there are plenty of parks and playgrounds. It has a library, three primary schools and a secondary school, St. Mark’s. It is friendly and offers a wide range of subjects and activities to children of all abilities and backgrounds. The town also has a swimming and a sports centre, and the community halls hold regular clubs and events for people of all ages.What is the writer’s main purpose?
| A．To explain what tourists can do in Horton. |
| B．To explain why Horton is a good place to live in. |
| C．To explain why Horton is not as pleasant as other towns. |
| D．To describe the history of Horton. |
Which part of Horton does the writer find disappointing?
| A．the shops | B．country park |
| C．transport links | D．the schools |
Which of the following is NOT the advantage of Horton?
| A．plenty of parks and playgrounds |
| B．historical buildings |
| C．the quiet and safe streets |
| D．functional and cheap houses |
What advantages does Horton bring to workers?
| A．There are plenty of jobs available in the town. |
| B．You can drive to nearby cities in a short time. |
| C．You can get to several cities quickly by train. |
| D．Working conditions are better here than in other towns. |