In the US and Britain, the slogan around colleges was “Save water. Shower with a friend.” Now, Wuhan University has come up with another system for the campus bathhouse. It charges students for the amount of time in a shower. Before entering the bathhouse, students pay for the amount of time they want in the shower with cash or their student ID card. The clock starts ticking the minute the tape is turned on. It pauses when a button is pressed for soap. An integrated circuit (IC) card reader at each tap shows the time. No money, no water. The benefits of the new system can be seen with the old system, which charged 1 Yuan for each person regardless of time in the shower. The university used about 320 tons of water daily under the old system, but only 160 tons now.
Many students use the new system but opinions on it are divided. Some students say it is bad because bathing had become a sort of race. Many people using it for the first time are not sure how long they need to shower. Some might be embarrassed if their time is up and they’re still covered in soap. They have to ask the bathhouse worker to help them buy extra time.
“It’s a flaw in the system that you can not buy extra time on the ID card,” said Ren, a freshman in Wuhan University. The university is also considering some students’ suggestions that they be allowed to pay after they’ve finished the shower. Not surprisingly, some are complaining about losing the hour shower. But many students say the move helps them develop a water-saving sense.
Without the time limits, most students tended to shower for 30 to an hour in the bathhouse.
Some even used the hot water to wash their clothes. “In my experience, 10—20 minutes is enough,” said Dai Zhihua, a third-year student who usually takes 8 minutes.
A similar system has been installed in other universities. Shanghai Normal University introduced it at its Fengxiang Campus in September. The bathing fee there is 0.2 Yuan per minute. One male student responded by setting a record with a two-minute shower.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Students pay for the amount of time they want in the shower. |
| B．The clock times all through while the student is bathing except when the bather paused for soap. |
| C．If money runs out, there will be no water. |
| D．Having finished bathing, the student has to pay for it. |
The underline word “flaw” (Paragraph 3) most probably means __________.
| A．fault | B．advantage | C．pity | D．perfection |
Since the new system has performed, __________ of water can be saved.
| A．a quarter | B．one third | C．one half | D．two thirds |
It can be inferred from the passage that __________.
| A．The new operation can raise students’ environmental awareness. |
| B．the new operation can solve the water crisis. |
| C．a similar operation has been set in other universities. |
| D．The university has saved a lot of water by using the new system. |
In which column can you find this passage?
| A．People. | B．Society. | C．Campus Life. | D．Lifestyle. |
Here's one very simple but lifechanging advice that I first heard from Brian Tracy. Cut down on the TV at night by just one hour. Instead, use that hour to read books that could improve your life.
If you're a salesman, google for the best and most useful books on improving your sales.
This applies (适用) to all fields, not just the work-related (与工作相关的) ones. Maybe you want to improve your health, become a more energetic person. Or maybe you want to improve your study, your relations or perhaps do some personal development.
One hour a day is not much. But if you read for one hour a day on weekdays, that's about 260 hours a year. That's a large number of books and a lot of useful advice.
If you follow the ideas, who knows what great things and feelings could come into your life. Also, all that information and advice will start to open up your mind. You will start to see more chances in your life.
Now, you might think something like this:
1. I really don't have the money...
Answer: Visit your public library or search the database (数据库). Or look for books that are used in places like amazon.com.
2. I really don't have the time...
Answer: Buy audiobooks and listen to them in the car while driving to and from work. Or copy them to your MP3-player and listen while riding your bike /bus to work or school. Recently selling audiobooks through MP3-downloads has become popular...
Shut off the TV a little earlier and start reading.What is Brian Tracy’s lifechanging advice about？
| A．Watching TV. | B．Listening to MP3. |
| C．Surfing the internet. | D．Reading helpful books. |
If you’d like to improve your work, you should_______ according to the writer.
| A．read work-related books | B．become more energetic |
| C．improve your study | D．improve your relations |
Which is NOT true about reading an hour a day？
| A．It will open up your mind. |
| B．You will have about 260 hours a year to read. |
| C．You will read lots of books and get much useful advice. |
| D．It will probably bring great things and feelings into your life. |
What should you do if you really don't have the money to read?
| A．To buy some books from amazon.com. | B．To download MP3 free. |
| C．To visit the public library. | D．To borrow audiobooks and listen to them. |
What is the writer’s idea about audiobooks?
| A．They are more useful. |
| B．Listening to audiobooks is easier than reading books. |
| C．It’s dangerous to listen to audiobooks while driving or riding. |
| D．Audiobooks are a good solution to the problem of having no time to read. |
Starting high school means many changes in your life. Most teenagers look forward to the first day of high school, but still feel a little bit nervous. In order to make your high school life easier, you can follow these tips.
Learn all you can about your first day before the first day. Take part in some activities that are held at the school for new students to know the school better. If parents are invited to these activities, take yours with you. Carefully look over all the materials you receive. Be sure you know where the school’s buildings are.
Get the things you will need for class. Buy the things suggested on your teachers’ supply lists and place your materials for each class separately.
Keep up with your high school workload（工作量）. If you find you’re not doing well in a subject, make use of after-school study groups or ask your teacher to help you with your schoolwork. Consider private tutoring to get you through a difficult time.
There’re more extracurricular（课外的）activities in high school than in middle school, such as clubs, music and theater groups, student government, and sports teams. Make friends and be seen at such school activities. Join a club or other organizations to meet people and develop friendships. Ask someone in school activities if you don’t know how. This is a good time to do what you like doing and an opportunity to try new things. Who said school has to be all work and no play?
Since you’ll attend more activities in high school than in middle school, you’ll have to learn how to manage you time…The writer wrote this passage to ______.
| A．advise us to study hard in high school. |
| B．tell us how to live an easier life in high school. |
| C．show that we may live a hard life in high school. |
| D．explain why there will be many changes in high school. |
In paragraph 2, the writer suggests that we should ______.
| A．ask our parents to walk us to school |
| B．ask other students about our high school |
| C．prepare all the things we need for our classes |
| D．learn about our high school well before attending it |
According to paragraph 4, what should we do if we are not doing well in a subject?
| A．We should get help from others. |
| B．We should stop going to activities. |
| C．We should spend most of our time on it. |
| D．We should give it up if it is not important. |
In paragraph 5, the writer wants to tell us that ______.
| A．every coin has two sides |
| B．the early bird catches the worm |
| C．where there is a will, there is a way |
| D．all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy |
What will the writer most probably talk about next?
| A．How to manage time well in high school. |
| B．Why we need to learn how to manage time. |
| C．How to attend more activities in high school. |
| D．Why middle school is different from high school. |
My 10-year-old Donna said, “Mom, I made a new friend at school today. Can she come over tomorrow?” Donna was a shy girl and I wanted her to make some friends to bring her out of her shell.
“Sure, honey, that sounds great.” I said, thinking back to my own best friend, Lillian. We lived across the street from each other in Washington Heights, New York. We met at the age of 10, too. Like my daughter, I was shy, but Lillian drew me out. She was one of the friendliest people in school, with shiny black hair and a mile-wide smile.
In senior high school, Lillian went on a trip to Florida. This was the first time we had to be away from each other for a few days. “I’ll be back soon.” she told me. But three days later, Lillian’s sister told me that she had fallen into a river and hadn’t come out any more. Soon, my family moved to New Jersey. Whenever I thought of her, tears came into my eyes.
The next day Donna brought her new friend home. “Hi, Mrs. Loggia.” the little girl said. Her hair was so shiny and black and she shot me a big smile. “My name is Laura.”
My daughter’s new friend was so much like Lillian. I was still puzzled (迷惑) when Laura’s mom came to pick her up later that afternoon. I opened the door to let her in. “Judy!” she cried. “It’s me, Lillian’s sister, from Washington Heights.” Yes, my daughter’s friend looked familiar. She was Lillian’s niece.The underlined words in the first paragraph “to bring her out of her shell” mean ___________.
| A．to help her become less shy | B．to help her become smart |
| C．to help her live happily | D．to help her walk out of her house |
Laura looked familiar to the writer because she ____________.
| A．was Lillian’s niece |
| B．was as old as her daughter |
| C．was from Washington Heights |
| D．had shiny black hair and a big smile, too |
Why did the writer lose her best friend? Because ____________________.
| A．she moved to New Jersey |
| B．they were different from each other |
| C．her best friend travelled to Florida |
| D．her best friend lost her life on a trip |
“I knew we would be best friends forever.” is a sentence from the passage and should be put at the end of _______．
| A．Paragraph 2 | B．Paragraph 3 | C．Paragraph 4 | D．Paragraph 5 |
We can infer (推断) from the passage that______.
| A．Laura is outgoing |
| B．Laura helps Donna a lot |
| C．Laura and Donna are of the same age |
| D．Judy moved to New Jersey because of Lillian’s death |
Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is the color of most growing plants, too.
Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet finished or plants that are not ripe.
For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in war (战争). By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today--a person who is new in a job.
About one hundred years ago, greenhorn was a popular expression in the American west. Old-timers used it to describe a man who had just arrived from one of the big cities in the east. The greenhorn didn’t have the skills that he would need to live in the hard, rough country.
Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds.
A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.
The Green Revolution (革命) is the name which was given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural (农业的) scientists who had green thumbs.According to the passage, a greenhorn means________ now.
| A．a young cow or ox whose horns have not yet developed |
| B．a soldier who has not had any experience in war |
| C．a person who is new in a job |
| D．a man who doesn’t have the skills to live in the country |
The meaning of the underlined word “ripe” in the second paragraph is ________.
| A．未完成的 | B．成熟的 | C．青涩的 | D．老练的 |
Which of the following about the Green Revolution is NOT right?
| A．If there weren’t the Green Revolution, we would have no rice to eat. |
| B．The expression “the Green Revolution” appeared several years ago. |
| C．Because of the Green Revolution, we have more kinds of rice and other grains. |
| D．Agricultural scientists with green thumbs started the Green Revolution. |
We can know from the passage that _______.
| A．all growing plants is green |
| B．green is the most important color in nature |
| C．a person with a green thumb can make plants grow well |
| D．the expression “a green thumb” has a history of two hundred years |
The main idea of the passage is ________.
| A．a greenhorn | B．a green thumb |
| C．the Green Revolution | D．the word “green” and its story |
A Frenchman went to a small Italian town and was staying with his wife at the best hotel there. One night, he went out for a walk alone. It was late and the small street was dark and quiet. Suddenly he felt someone behind him. He turned his head and saw an Italian young man who quickly walked past him. The Italian was nearly out of sight when the Frenchman suddenly found that his watch was gone. He thought that it must be the Italian who had taken his watch. He decided to follow him and get back the watch.
Soon the Frenchman caught up with the Italian. Neither of them understood the other’s language. The Frenchman frightened the Italian with his fist(拳头) and pointed at the Italian’s watch. In the end the Italian gave up his watch to the Frenchman.
When he returned to the hotel, the Frenchman told his wife what had happened. He was greatly surprised when his wife pointed to the watch on the table. Now he realized that by mistake he had robbed the watch and it was the Italian’s. The Frenchman went to a small Italian town________.
| A．alone | B．with his wife | C．with his friend | D．with an Italian |
One night he went out for ______ alone.
| A．a ride | B．a walk | C．a drink | D．rest |
Suddenly he found his ______ was gone.
| A．watch | B．money | C．book | D．ring |
The Italian gave up his watch to him at last because ______.
| A．he had stolen the watch from the Frenchman. |
| B．he understood what the Frenchman wanted |
| C．he had picked up the watch on his way from work |
| D．he was afraid of the Frenchman |
Who was robbed of the watch?
| A．The Frenchman | B．The Italian |
| C．Both of them | D．Neither of them |