Buying a house for most of the people is a once in a lifetime decision, which means people decide to do so only after coming across the ideal house. Surprisingly, eight in every 10 home buyers are unhappy with their houses.
A survey conducted by the Beijing Consumers’ Association (BCA) recently shows about 80 percent of the 2,315 respondents in 23 residential complexes of Beijing are dissatisfied with the soaring house prices.
They think the reasonable price in Beijing should be between 3,000 yuan and 7,000 yuan per square meter.
The quality of the buildings, the surrounding environment and traffic and property management(物业管理)are the other factors that play a role in people’s decision to buy a house.
The BCA has suggested strict sales regulations and contracts to ease house-owners’ sufferings. It has urged the authorities to impose severe punishment on developers found violating building and other rules and joining hands with others to bid up property prices, About 41.2 percent of the respondents have complained that their house have defective designs, while nearly 40 percent say the lighting and ventilation(通风)are far from satisfactory.
The landscapes in the residential areas are a source of unhappiness for 43.2 percent of the respondents, and about one-third say they were “bluffed” into buying “third grade” house. And more than half are not satisfied with the sport and entertainment facilities in their neighborhood.
Property management in the buildings, 56.5 percent of the respondents say, is way below standard compared to the high fee charged by the complexes.
60 percent of the consumers doubt the contents of developers’ advertisements, with only 6.3 percent being satisfied.
Experts have suggested consumers gather thorough knowledge about a developer and their work before deciding to buy a house from it. They should check the day-light conditions and ventilation in different weather conditions in advance, if possible. According to the passage________ of the buyers are NOT content with their houses.
| A．80％ | B．60％ | C．56.5 ％ | D．41.2％ |
Which is the best title of the passage?
| A．Most Home Buyers Are Unhappy with Their House. |
| B．Buying a House Is an Important Decision. |
| C．Thinking Carefully Before Buying a House. |
| D．The Environment Is Important When Making a Decision. |
The meaning of the underlined word probably means “_______”.
| A．fooled | B．cheated | C．asked | D．forced |
If you want to buy a flat, according to the survey, you will consider the following EXCEPT_______.
| A．property management | B．the surrounding environment |
| C．the quality of the buildings | D．the height of the building |
It has been more than twenty years since pioneering British computer programmer, Sir Tim Berners Lee, created the World Wide Web. But could he have ever imagined how much the web would change our lives? And would he approve of how some British students are taking advantage of his invention?
Universities and exam boards around the UK are becoming increasingly concerned with the rising number of cases of plagiarism, many of which are facilitated (助长) by the Internet access.
In the UK most school and university students complete coursework throughout the academic year which contributes toward their final mark. In many cases coursework makes up the main part of the qualification. Since coursework is completed in the students’ own time it cannot be monitored by teachers in the same way as an exam.
Derec Stockley, director of examinations in the UK, explains, “Plagiarism affects coursework more than anything else, and in the cases that come to our attention, more and more are linked to the Internet.”
At a university level recent reports suggest that plagiarism has evolved from separate cases of individual cheating to systematic and even commercial operation. Students can now pay for bespoke essays to be written for them by experts.
It is estimated that the market in online plagiarism is now worth 200 million pounds a year. Every month more and more websites offering to write student’s essays for them appear on the Internet.
Barclay Littlewood, owner of Degree Essays UK employs 3,500 specialist writers and charges between 120 pounds and 4,000 pounds per essay. However, Mr. Littlewood refutes the accusation that he is helping students to cheat.What dose the underlined word “plagiarism” in Paragraph 2 mean in the passage?
| A．coursework | B．problems of the Internet |
| C．learning pressure | D．cheating |
Which of the following statements is mentioned by the author?
| A．With the help of online plagiarism, students can write more creative coursework. |
| B．There will be no problem if online plagiarism is a systematic and commercial operation. |
| C．The Internet seems to have contributed much to the problem of online plagiarism. |
| D．Teachers should lay more emphasis on exams than coursework. |
It can be inferred from the text that the author seems to _____.
| A．blame Sir Tim Berners Lee for having created the World Wide Web |
| B．worry about the quality of students’ coursework influenced by the World Wide Web |
| C．be in favour of Littlewood’s defence against the accusation of him |
| D．have studied the problem of online plagiarism for nearly 20 years |
Who should be blamed for online plagiarism?
| A．Barclay Littlewood. | B．Sir Tim Berners Lee. |
| C．Derec Stockley. | D．Nobody. |
The paragraph following the passage will most probably be about_____.
| A．the author’s opinions of Mr. Littlewood |
| B．different people’s opinions on plagiarism |
| C．how students use the website of Mr. Littlewood |
| D．Mr. Littlewood’s defence against those who accused him of his website |
Brave Frenchman Found Halfway Around the World (NEW YORK)A French tourist highly praised for rescuing a twoyearold girl in Manhattan said he didn’t think twice before diving into the freezing East River.
Tuesday’s DailyNews said 29yearold Julien Duret from France is the man who left the spot quickly after the rescue last Saturday.
He lifted the little girl out of the water after she fell off the bank at the South Street Seaport museum.He handed the girl to her father, David Anderson, who had dived in after him.
“I didn’t think at all，” Duret told the DailyNews.“It happened very fast.I reacted very fast.”
Duret, an engineer on vacation, was walking with his girlfriend along the pier (码头) when he saw something falling into the water.He thought it was a doll, but realized it was a child when he approached the river.In an instant, he took off his coat and jumped into the water.
When he reached the girl, she appeared lifeless, he said.Fortunately，when she was out of the water, she opened her eyes.
Anderson said his daughter slipped off the bank when he was adjusting his camera.An ambulance came later for her, said Duret, who was handed dry clothes from onlookers.Duret caught a taxi with his girlfriend shortly after.
The rescue happened on the day before he left for France.Duret said he didn’t realize his tale of heroism had greatly moved New York until he was leaving the city the next morning.
“I don’t really think I’m a hero，”said Duret.“Anyone would do the same thing.”Why was Duret in New York?
| A．To meet his girlfriend. |
| B．To work as an engineer. |
| C．To spend his holiday. |
| D．To visit the Andersons. |
What did Duret do shortly after the ambulance came?
| A．He was interviewed by a newspaper. |
| B．He asked his girlfriend for his dry clothes. |
| C．He went to the hospital in the ambulance. |
| D．He disappeared from the spot quickly. |
．Who dived after Duret into the river to save the little girl?
| A．David Anderson. |
| B．A passerby. |
| C．His girlfriend. |
| D．A taxi driver. |
What is EQ? In the early 1990s, Dr. John Mayer, Ph.D., and Dr. Peter Salovey, Ph.D., introduced the term “emotional intelligence” in the Journal of Personality Assessment. They used this term to describe a person’s ability to understand his or her own emotions and the emotions of others and to act properly based on this understanding. Then in 1995, psychologist Daniel Goleman popularized this term with his book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.
EQ gives you a competitive advantage. Even at Bell Labs, where everyone is smart, studies find that the most respected and productive engineers are those with the special qualities of emotional intelligence quotient — it’s not necessary for them to have the highest IQ. Having a high IQ may make you an excellent expert or a legal scholar, but a highly developed emotional intelligence quotient will make you a candidate （候选人）for a leader or a brilliant lawyer. EQ can make it more likely that your marriage will be successful. Lack of EQ shows why people with high IQ can be such bad pilots of their personal lives.
The study shows that these men with high IQ also lack these emotional abilities: suffering from being criticized and misunderstood, shy and uncomfortable, emotionally stimulated（激励）. Compared with those men with high IQ, these men (with high EQ) are calm and friendly, who are loyal to people and careers, have lots of sympathy with and care for others, with a rich but suitable emotional life — they’re comfortable with themselves, others, and the human society they live in.
Is your intelligence the greatest predictor of what you’ll achieve in life? We have believed that IQ is the best measure of human potential for so many years. In the past 10 years, however, researchers have found that isn’t necessarily the case---that in fact, your EQ might be a greater predictor of success.
High IQ may help you the father of science fiction, but it won’t make you a respected person. High EQ can help you more.What can we learn from the second paragraph?
A In daily life and work, EQ is more important than IQ.
B High IQ will have a bad effect on people’s lives.
C It’s not necessary for people to have a high IQ.
D You’d better develop your intelligence well in order to be a leader.The underlined sentence “this isn’t necessarily the case” in Paragraph 4 means here that ____.
A your IQ is a greater predictor of success
B success is dependent on your IQ
C your EQ can predict your success better
D human potential is up to your IQFrom the text, it can be inferred that ____
A high IQ can help you work better and succeed more easily
B high EQ must make you succeed
C all the bosses have a higher EQ than their employees
D those with high IQ are hot valuedThe text is written mainly to advise ____.
A people should only pay attention to their EQ
B people should develop their EQ as well as their IQ
C those who want to act as leaders should develop their EQ
D people should not develop their IQ too much
The first newspapers were written by hand and put up on walls in public place. The earliest daily newspaper was started in Rome in 59 BC. In the 700’s the world’s first printed newspaper was published. Europe didn’t have a regularly published newspaper until 1609, when one was started in Germany.
The first regularly published newspaper in the English language was printed in Amsterdam in 1620. In 1621, an English newspaper was started in London and was published once a week. The first daily English newspaper was the Daily Courant (每日新闻). It came out in March 1702.
In 1690, Benjamin Harris printed the first American newspaper in Boston. But not long after it was first published, the government stopped the paper. In 1704, John Campbell started The Boston Newsletter (波斯顿新闻通讯), the first newspaper published in the American colonies. By 1760, the colonies had more than thirty daily newspapers. There are now about 1,800 daily papers in the United States.
Today, as a group, English language newspapers have the largest circulation (发行量) in the world. But the largest circulation for a newspaper is that of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Dhimbun (朝日新闻). It sells more than eleven million copies every day.The first daily newspaper came out in _____.
| A．59 BC | B．700’s | C．1609 | D．1620 |
The first regular published newspaper in Europe was printed in _____.
| A．England | B．Sweden | C．France | D．Germany |
The first printed newspaper in America came out in _____.
| A．Washington | B．Boston | C．New York | D．New Orleans |
Today there are about _____ daily newspaper printed in the United States.
| A．1621 | B．1704 | C．1760 | D．1800 |
Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads in their free time.
In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get a success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.
Happiness doesn’t mean money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving（旋转的）door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person. When you do something wrong , people around you will.
| A．quarrel with you | B．help you correct it |
| C．do something wrong like you | D．laugh at you |
What will your friends say when you make great progress?
| A．Oh, so do I | B．Congratulations! |
| C．Good luck! | D．Just so-so |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．People who have cars would never like to walk in the open air. |
| B．You can get help from others when you are in trouble. |
| C．You can still be a happy person even if you have little money. |
| D．Happiness is always around you though difficulties come towards you. |
The passage mainly tells us .
| A．parents always care for our life and health |
| B．we’re not happy if we meet with difficulties |
| C．happiness is always around us |
| D．life is colorful |