The Elysee Palace in France enjoys equal popularity in the world with the Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom, the Kremlin in Russia as well as the White House in the U. S. It is the residence of the president of the French Republic and the symbol of the supreme authority in France.
The Elysee palace, with an area of 11,000 square metres, is at the eastern end of the Champs Elysee in the city of Paris proper and backed by a large and peaceful garden of more than twenty thousand square metres. Its main building, quite handsome and graceful, is a two-story classical stone architecture of European style, and beside it are two side buildings facing each other and with an extensive rectangular courtyard in the middle. There are altogether 369 halls and rooms of different sizes.
The Elysee Palace, built in 1718, has a ling history of close to300 years to date. This house was at first a private residence of a count named d’Evreau, so it was called Hotel d’Evreau. It had later gone through many changes and its owners had been changed for many times, but all the residents in it were distinguished persons and high officials. The house was renamed Bonaparte Mansion when it was owned by Louis X V and Louis X VI successively when they acted as emperors. Napoleon I signed his act of abdication here when he had suffered defeat in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Nopoleon III moved in the Mansion in 1848 when he was elected president, and the house became a Royal Palace when he declared himself as emperor. The Third French Republic issued a decree in 1873, appointing officially the Elysee Palace as the residence president of the French Republic. Over the hundred years since then, almost all the president of the French Republic worked and lived there. Starting from 1989, the Elysee Palace is open to the public every year in September on the French Castles Day.The number of the buildings of the Elysee Palace is ______.
A.3 | B.4 | C.5 | D.6 |
Why does the writer mention the Buckingham Palace?
A.To tell us it’s very famous in the world |
B.To tell us the Elysee Palace is as large as it. |
C.To show that the Elysee Palace is also a symbolic building. |
D.To show that it is also the living place of the president. |
What’s the purpose of the passage?
A.To tell us the long history of the Elyseee Palace. |
B.To make an introduction of the Elysee Palace. |
C.To show the political importance of the Elysee Palace. |
D.To explain how the Elysee Palace became the residence of presidents. |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A.The time when the Elyusee Palace is open to the public. |
B.The reason why Napoleon I signed his act of abdication. |
C.The time when the Elysee Palace became the residence of president of the French Republic. |
D.The reason why there’s the French Castles Day. |
The first people who gave names to hurricanes were those who knew them best — the people of Puerto Rico. The small island of Puerto Rico is in the West Indies, off the coast of Florida. This is where all the hurricanes begin that strike the east coast of the United States. Often they pass near Puerto Rico or cross it on their way north. The people of Puerto Rico expect some of these unwelcome visitors every year. Each one is named after the Saint’s Day on which it arrives. Two of the most destructive storms were the Santo Ana in 1840 and the San Ciriaco in 1899.
Giving girls’ names to hurricanes is a fairly new idea. It all began with a story called “Storm”, written by George Stewart in 1941. In it a weatherman amused himself by naming storms after girls he knew. He named one Maria. The story describes how she Maria grew and developed, and how she changed the lives of people when she struck the United States.
Weathermen of the U.S. Army and Navy used the same system during World WarⅡ. They were studying weather conditions over the Pacific Ocean. One of their duties was to warn American ships and planes when a storm was coming. Whenever they spotted one, they gave it a girl’s name. The first one of the year was given a name beginning with [A]. The second one got a name beginning with [B]. They used all the letters from A to W, and still the storms kept coming. They had to use three lists from A to W to have enough names to go around. This was the first list of hurricane names that followed the alphabet. It served as a model for the system the Weather Bureau (局) introduced in 1942.
Before 1950 the Weather Bureau had no special system for naming hurricanes. When a hurricane was born down in the West Indies, the Weather Bureau simply collected information about it. It reported how fast the storm was moving and where it would go next. Weather reports warned people in the path of the hurricane, so that they could do whatever was necessary to protect themselves.
This system worked out fine as long as weather reports talked about only one hurricane at a time. But one week in September 1950 there were three hurricanes at the same time. The things began to get confused. Some people got the hurricanes mixed up and didn’t know which was which. This convinced the Weather Bureau that it needed a code for naming the storms in order to avoid confusion in the future.Hurricanes were first named after the _________.
A.date on which they occurred | B.place where they began |
C.amount of destruction they did | D.particular feature they have |
The practice of giving girls’ names to hurricanes was started by _________.
A.a radio operator | B.an author | C.a sailor | D.local people |
The purpose for which weathermen of the army and navy began using girls’ names for hurricanes was ________.
A.to keep information from the enemy | B.to follow the standard method of the United States |
C.not given in the article | D.to remember a certain girl |
The Weather Bureau began naming hurricanes because it would help them _________.
A.collect information more rapidly | B.warn people more efficiently |
C.make use of military (军事的) records | D.remember them |
HOUSTON (Reuters) — Houston tops a U.S. magazine’s annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities in the top 25.
Fast food restaurants — Houston has twice the national average number — are partly to blame for the dishonor, Men’s Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said.
“Americans work long hours, don’t take vacations, and when they’re faced with the worst food choices, they indulge (沉溺于) in those,” he said.
High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation’s longest commute (每天去上班的路程) times also helped Texas’ most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2003 heavy weight champion, the magazine said.
Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major food company to develop healthy food products and the city’s public schools to improve lunch menus, called the report “mostly ungrounded and nonsense.”
“On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to deal with,” his spokesman, Frank Michel, said.
The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs.
Philadelphia, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago followed Houston on the seventh edition of the fat list. Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso were in the top 14, which Boulton said was no surprise.
“It’s pure big indulgence, just living big, and that’s part of the culture,” said Boulton.
Seattle ranked as the fittest city. Austin and Arlington, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, were the only Texas cities on the fit list. Austin was 19th and Arlington 22nd out of 25.What decides the magazine’s annual fattest list?
A.The size of fat population. | B.The number of fast food restaurants. |
C.The economic growth rate of the state. | D.Things related to unhealthy ways of life. |
Which city topped 2003 fattest cities list?
A.Houston. | B.Dallas. | C.Detroit. | D.Philadelphia. |
By saying “living big” (in Paragraph 9), Boulton means people _________.
A.are growing fatter | B.are living wastefully |
C.eat too many fatty foods | D.are spending too much time working |
Which of the following is best supported by the text?
A.Texas has the most fat cities in the U.S. |
B.Bill White is happy with the newspaper report. |
C.People in Texas are the most hardworking in the U.S. |
D.Most school children in Houston have weight problems. |
Wu You, a 14–year–old Chinese Australian, used her diary to record what she had experienced in Guangzhou during this year’s Spring Festival travel period.
She, like tens of thousands of passengers stranded (滞留) at the Guangzhou Railway Station, had a Spring Festival she could never forget. But different from most people, she put down what she saw and heard in her diary, which was published in Australia.
Born in Sydney, Australia, Wu You’s grandfather and parents are professional painters, and she started to write diaries with pictures when she was only ten years old. She never expected to become famous because of her diary describing her life in Guangzhou.
“We originally planned to stay for half a month in Guangzhou when we arrived in January,” said Huang Qin, Wu’s mother. But the snowstorm caused the breakdown of traffic and kept the family there. “This is her first Spring Festival in China and probably the most special one,” said Huang. “We watched TV news programs every day and prayed for the snowstorm to be over soon so that stranded passengers could go home as soon as possible.”
Then Wu You started writing diaries about the snowstorm and the stranded passengers, along with the traditional customs in Guangzhou as well as local attractions such as the flower fair.
“In her diary she just wrote down what she heard and saw every day, and with her pencil she added some illustration to every diary. When we went back to Australia, people saw the diaries and asked to publish them on a local newspaper,” said Huang, “because they thought the diaries are very heart – warming.” All of Wu You’s diaries were written in English, and translated into Chinese by her mother. Through her diary, the girl shows her care to the Chinese people. In one diary, she wrote, “I really hope the warmth from people’s love can melt the cold snow and ice.”
72. Wu You wrote diaries during her stay in Guangzhou because she _______ .
A. has the habit of keeping a diary B. wished to make her name known
C. needed a means to kill time D. experienced so many interesting things
73. We can infer from the story that Wu You _____ during the Spring Festival.
A. did nothing besides watching TV and writing diaries
B. helped clear away the snow and ice
C. helped other stranded passengers in difficulty
D. had activities to get a taste of the local culture
74. The underlined word “illustration” in the last paragraph refers to _______.
A. photos B. drawings C. translations D. tips
75. Her diary is believed worth publishing mainly because it tells about the ______.
A. wonderful places in Guangzhou covered in ice and snow
B. interesting ways of locals observing the Spring Festival
C. severe disaster caused by the snowstorm
D. moving stories of the passengers being helped
It was Monday. Mrs. Smith's dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house.
Considering that there was no better way. Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it: “Give my dog half a pound of meat.” Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently: “Take this to the butcher (*person whose job is selling meat). and he's going to give you your lunch today.”
Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.
At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it,he gave it half a pound of meat once more.
The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers (*people who buy sth. from a shop).
But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled. He said to himself, “This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat today?”
Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it!
68.Mrs Smith treated her little dog quite_________.
A. cruelly B. fairly C. kindly D. friendly
69.It seemed that the dog knew well that the paper Mrs Smith gave it_______.
A. might do it much harm B. could do it much good
C. would help the butcher D. was worth many pounds
70.The butcher did not give any meat to the dog __________.
A. before he felt sure that the words were really written by Mrs. Smith
B. when he found that the words on the paper were not clear
C. because he had sold out all the meat in his shop
D. until he was paid enough by Mrs. Smith
71.From its experience, the dog found that ________.
A. only the paper with Mrs. Smith's words in it could bring it meat
B. the butcher would give the meat to it whenever he saw it
C. Mrs Smith would pay for the meat it got from the butcher
D. a piece of paper could bring it half a pound of meat
The financial climate, the job market, family tensions, Obama moving into the Lincoln bedroom. Even the climate’s getting in on the list. Yup, change is everywhere in 2009.
If you’re not careful, all kinds of strange things might happen in your otherwise ordered life, so it’s best to work at avoiding change whenever it rears its head.(抬头)
Here are 5 ways to do just that:
1. Ignore any opportunities. How many times have you taken a chance, only for things to go wrong? How many times have you seized an opportunity only for it to slip between your fingers? There’s always another screw-up(皱脸) waiting for you, so it’s better to stay right where you are. Where you are right now is a known quantity - it’s safe, warm and comfortable. Doesn’t that sound better than going out there, screwing up and looking stupid? |
2. Set your expectations low. If you’re one of the people out there looking to make a change in 2009 rather than having change made for you, you’d better set your expectations low. |
3. Keep on running and don’t look back. The best thing to do is to set things out so that you can do everything. It’s good to be busy and running around after everyone else will mean that everyone’s happy and there’s no room for change to happen. It’s a win-win! |
4. Recognize that most changes are too big. Face it; there are some tasks you’re just not up to. Landing that exciting new job, getting a promotion, taking on the ‘big project’ or building a relationship that really works -these are all big challenges and you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. |
5. Ignore that little voice inside You might sometimes hear a little voice in your head that tells you you’re not happy or that something has to change. This little trouble maker can speak up at any time and throw the Spanner of Confusion in the works, and it has only one thing on its mind -to take you out of your comfort zone and make you change. |
Imagine if everyone went around listening to what they really wanted and acted on it - chaos.
No, best to ignore it and carry on with what you’re doing.
64.The purpose of writing this passage is _______.
A.to attract the readers’ interest in change in 2009
B.to introduce ways to avoid change in 2009
C.to discuss whether people should change in 2009
D.to tell the readers the news of American New President- Obama
65.Supposing you are safe, warm and comfortable now, you should _______.
A.set your expectations low B.keep on running and don’t look back
C.ignore any opportunities D.ignore that little voice inside
66.The underlined sentence “You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew” implies_____.
A.you are too small to eat too much food.
B.you have big challenges to fight.
C.you are afraid of challenging some difficult tasks.
D.there are some big challenges you can’t fight.
67.The best way of dealing with that little voice inside is _______.
A.to change something at once B.to have a chat with the speaker
C.to ignore it and go on with what you are doingD.to discuss it with the trouble maker