“Whatever”，totally tops most annoying word in the poll(民意测验).So, you know, it is what it is, but Americans are totally annoyed by the use of “whatever，，in conversations. The popular term of indifference(不感兴趣)was found most annoying in conversations by 47 percent of the Americans surveyed in a Marist College poll on Wednesday.
"Whatever" easily beat out “you know," which especially annoyed a quarter of interviewers. The other annoying expressions were "anyway"(at 7 percent), “it is what it is’，(11percent) and “at the end of the day”(2 percent).
"Whatever" is an expression with staying power. It left everyone a deep impression in the song by Nirvana (“oh well, whatever, never mind”）in 1991 and was popularized by the Valley Girls in the film “Clueless”，later that decade. It is still commonly used, often by younger people.
It can be a common argument-ender or a signal of indifference. And it can really be annoying. The poll found '"whatever" to be consistently(始终地)disliked by Americans regardless of their race, sex, age, income or where they live.
“It doesn't surprise me because ‘whatever，is in a special class, probably，，，said Michael Adams, author of “Slang(俚语)~The People's Poetry" and an associate professor of English at Indiana University. "It's a word that 一 and it depends on how a speaker uses it 一 can suggest being not worthy of attention or respect.’，Adams, who didn't take part in the poll and is not annoyed by "whatever," points out that its use is not always negative. “It can also be used in place of other neutral(中性的）phrases that have fallen out of favor, like ‘six of one, half dozen of the other，.” he said. However, he also noted that the negative meaning of the word might explain why “whatever，was judged more annoying than the ever-popular "you know”.Which tops second among the annoying expression according to the passage?'
| A．Whatever. | B．You know. | C．Anyway. | D．It is what it is. |
What can we know about the word "whatever"?
| A．It became popular because of Nirvana. |
| B．It can be commonly used at the beginning of an agreement. |
| C．Old people like it while young people don't. |
| D．Almost half of the Americans surveyed disliked it. |
In Adams' opinion, the reason why “whatever”，was judged more annoying may be that . _______
| A．most of the people don't like it |
| B．it can be used in place of other neutral phrases |
| C．it carries certain negative meaning sometimes |
| D．the poor don't like it |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Adams is not only a writer but also a professor. |
| B．“Whatever” is a signal of concern. |
| C．Adams is angry at the word “whatever” |
| D．"Whatever" will be replaced by "You know”. |
Early one morning the sub-inspector at a station at the other end of the town rang me. An elephant was damaging the town. Would I please come and do something about it? I did not know what I could do, but I got onto a horse and started out. I took my gun, maybe too small to kill an elephant, but I thought the noise might scare him. Various local people stopped me on the way and told me about the elephant's doings. It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one. It had been chained up but last night it had broken its chain and escaped. Its owner had set out to run after it, but had taken the wrong direction. He was now twelve hours' journey away, and in the morning the elephant had suddenly appeared in the town. It had already destroyed somebody's bamboo hut (棚屋), killed a cow and turned over fruit¬stalls. I came round the hut and saw a man's dead body sprawling in the mud. He was an Indian, and he could not have been dead many minutes. The people said that the elephant caught him with its trunk, put its foot on his back and grounded him into the earth. This was the rainy season and he was lying on his stomach in the soft mud, the peacebreaker standing beside, looking innocent. As I lifted my gun, I hesitated a few seconds. Then I fired. That was a shot for him. You could see the pain of it knocking the last strength from his legs. But in falling he seemed for a moment to rise, his trunk reaching skyward like a tree. He trumpeted, for the first and only time. And then down he came, with a crash that shook the ground.Which of the following statements about the author is TRUE?
| A．He was an Indian. |
| B．He knew elephants well. |
| C．He was not a local villager. |
| D．He was the owner of the elephant. |
The elephant made so much trouble because ________.
| A．its owner treated him cruelly |
| B．it got out of control |
| C．it hated the village people |
| D．it was a wild elephant |
The underlined words “the peacebreaker” in Paragraph 4 refer to ________.
| A．the elephant | B．the dead man |
| C．the author | D．the sub¬inspector |
It can be inferred that the author felt ________ when he shot the elephant.
| A．excited | B．sad | C．frightened | D．happy |
Last week, I bought an alarm system for about $ 450. It consisted of a control unit with three small units. I put the control unit in the sitting-room and fastened the other units by the front door, back door and living-room windows. The instructions told us to choose three numbers, so we chose 4, 9 and 1, the last three numbers of our telephone number.
Now I must explain how the alarm works:
l There is a power siren(警报器) in the control unit. It makes a very loud noise.
2 Each of the small units sends out beams or rays in different directions. If anything moves, it breaks a beam. This sends a signal to the control unit. The siren makes a noise which you can hear 50 meters away.
3. When we go to bed, I press the three buttons numbered 4, 9 and 1. Then we have 30 seconds to get out of the room before the alarm starts to work.
That night I slept soundly because I was sure that no burglar(夜贼) could get into our house. However, at about 2:10 a. m., I woke up and heard the siren. “There must be a burglar in the house,” Mary said. “What shall we do?”“I’ll go and see who’s there,” I said. “Stay here. Don’t make a noise.”I went downstairs quietly. When I reached the living-room, I switched on my torch and looked round the room. Then I turned the light on. I switched the siren off and searched the rooms downstairs. There was nothing wrong except that the back door was unlocked. I locked it, reset the alarm and went back to bed. About an hour later, the alarm started again. I jumped out of bed, fell over a chair in the dark and bumped into the bedroom door. Mary woke up and started hitting me with a torch. “Hey! Wait a minute!” I whispered. “It’s only me. I’m going downstairs to see what’s wrong.”I went down into the living-room and listened for a moment. The only sound I could hear was the siren. I turned on the light and then switched the siren off. As I did so, I glanced across at the curtains in front of the windows. I saw a house lizard (a kind of small animal) disappear behind the curtains.“Oh!” I said to myself. “That’s our burglar. ”When the lizard moved, it started the siren. I guessed that the alarm had been made in Europe, where there are no house lizards. Well. I won’t finish this story but if you want an alarm system free of charge, let me know. I’ll send you ours. We bought a dog this morning. It knows the difference between a lizard and a burglar.The writer bought an alarm system to ________.
| A．make sure that he got up early every day |
| B．warn him when there were lizards in his house |
| C．frighten burglars and tell him that somebody had got into the house |
| D．make Mary feel safe to live in the large room |
The purpose of the three units was to________.
| A．send a message to the control unit and start the siren |
| B．sound their own sirens when the control unit told them so |
| C．check that the control unit worked properly all the time |
| D．give them enough light |
If the writer set the alarm and remained in the room for more than half a minute, _______.
| A．nothing would happen |
| B．the control unit would not work |
| C．the siren would make a noise |
| D．the dog would bark |
The purpose of the writer in writing the passage is to ________.
| A．tell us that the alarm system doesn’t work |
| B．tell us an interesting experience |
| C．show us how the alarm system works |
| D．make it clear that he wants to give away his alarm system |
阅读下面短文和问题，根据短文内容，在相应题号后的横线上写下相关信息(不多于
五个单词)，完成对该问题的回答。答语要结构正确，书写工整，字迹清楚。
 1. Cousins You could say that the alligator and the crocodile are cousins because they belong to the same animal group. The group is called Archosauria (ark-o-SOR-ee-ah). The name means "ruling lizards." The alligator and the crocodile are alike in many ways. Both have hard, bumpy skin. Both lay eggs in nests that they build near water. Both are reptiles (爬行动物), too.  2. Look Again Even though alligators and crocodiles are similar, there are ways to tell them apart. Adult alligators are usually gray or black, and they are darker than crocodiles. Adult crocodiles may be tan, green, or brown. Most types of alligators have broad snouts. Crocodiles' snouts are different. Their snouts are long and narrow. Look at the picture of the alligator. Whenever an alligator closes its mouth, only the top teeth show. Now look at the picture of the crocodile. Do you see a difference? Whenever a crocodile closes its mouth, some of the lower teeth also show.  3 Alligators and crocodile also have different ways of doing things. Alligators like freshwater. They sometimes wander into salty seawater, but they don't stay in the water very long. The salt can be bad for them. Alligators usually make their nests at the edge of freshwater lakes, rivers, or swamps. They use grass and leaves to make their nests. Crocodiles, on the other hand, usually build their nests in mud or sand. Sometimes they construct these nests near salty water. The salty water doesn't hurt them. Alligators and crocodiles do other things differently, too. A mother alligator stays near her nest. When the eggs hatch, she carries the babies to water. They may even ride around on her head as she swims. They depend on her to help them stay safe. Crocodile babies don't rely as much on their mothers. In fact, the babies leave the nest a few days after they are born. |
Where do they (alligators and crocodiles) lay eggs?
According to Part 2 "Look Again", how can we tell alligators and crocodiles apart?
What might be a suitable heading for Part 3?
According to the passage, who rely more on their mothers?
Who is the passage most likely intended for?
Testing has replaced teaching in most public schools. My own children's school week is framed by pretests, drills, tests, and retests. They know that the best way to read a textbook is to look at the questions at the end of the chapter and then skim the text for the answers. I believe that my daughter Erica, who gets excellent marks, has never read a chapter of any of her school textbooks all the way through. And teachers are often heard to state proudly and openly that they teach to the mandated (国家指定的) state test.
Teaching to the test is a curious phenomenon. Instead of deciding what skills students ought to learn, helping students learn them, and then using some reasonable methods of assessment to discover whether students have mastered the skills, teachers are encouraged to reverse the process. First, one looks at a commercially available test. Then, one distills (提取) the skills needed not to master reading, say, or math, but to do well on the test. Finally, the test skills are taught.
The ability to read or write or calculate might infer the ability to do reasonably well on standardized tests. However, neither reading nor writing develops simply through being taught to take tests. We must be careful to avoid mistaking preparation for a test of a skill with the acquisition of that skill. Too many discussions of the basics of skills make this fundamental confusion because people are test-centered rather than concerned with the nature and quality of what is taught.
Recently, many schools have faced what could be called the crisis of comprehension or, in simple terms, the phenomenon of students with phonic and grammar skills still being unable to understand what they read. These students are capable of taking tests and filling in workbooks. However, they have little or no experience reading or thinking, and talking about what they read. They know the details but can't see or understand the whole. They are taught to be so concerned with grade that they have' no time or ease of mind to think about meaning, and reread things if necessary.As is indicated in the second paragraph, the author finds it strange that __.
| A．tests are used to assess students' skills |
| B．skills are determined before tests are set |
| C．teaching is aimed to prepare students for tests |
| D．teachers use some reasonable methods of assessment |
The crisis of comprehension most probably results from __.
| A．students' poor phonic and grammar skills |
| B．teaching that takes up much of students' free time |
| C．teaching that emphasizes details rather than the whole |
| D．students' lack of ability to think about what they read |
According to the author, we can infer that __.
| A．the basics of skills have been discussed too much |
| B．the nature and quality of what is taught are fully concerned |
| C．skills in general are not only useless but often mislead students |
| D．doing well in a test does not necessarily mean acquiring the skill |
The British are being encouraged to holiday at home as a major tourism drive offering Olympic themed discounts is launched next week.
A new campaign offering 20. 12% discounted bills at participating venues (场所) will be announced publicly for the first time by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday to encourage "staycations".
The scheme includes hotel accommodation, meals, guided tours and entry to attractions, with discounts funded by the industry. Government officials said more than three million hotel rooms were already lined up under the project, which is being backed by a range of companies, including Butlins. Attractions, such as the London Eye and Alton Towers, are also taking part. Reduced prices will also be offered on stays on the Royal yacht Britannia, now harboring in Leith, Edinburgh, and visits to Chatsworth, the historic house in Derbyshire.
Tourists will be able to take advantage of the discount by using a dedicated website before the end of the Paralympics on September 9 to make bookings for this year and 2013.
Mr. Hunt said, "With the Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympic Games, this year is the perfect opportunity for more of us to holiday in the UK "
Mr. Hunt has travelled the UK, urging companies to take part in the scheme, telling them, "It's now or never for London tourism. We will never have a year like 2012 to show the world that this is, quite simply, the most exciting, vibrant, cosmopolitan city on the planet. The unavoidable complaints in the run up to an Olympics must not cloud the scale of the opportunity —including our biggest ever tourism marketing campaign to make sure we get a lasting benefit from being in the global spotlight. "
The scheme will be promoted by a ￡3 million television advertising campaign — the first of its kind in the UK.
The government hopes the " Holidays at Home are Great" campaign — launched by Visit England — will create 12, 000 jobs, create 5.3 million extra short overnight breaks, and generate ￡480 million in extra spending over three years.What Mr. Hunt said indicates that.
| A．he has no interest in the scheme |
| B．he supports the idea of staycation |
| C．he doubts the benefit of the scheme |
| D．he cares most about London tourism |
What does the underlined sentence (in Para. 6) mean?
| A．London tourism will never have a precious opportunity. |
| B．It is too golden an opportunity for London tourism to lose. |
| C．It is now too late for London tourism to take this opportunity. |
| D．London has ever had a valuable opportunity like the one in 2012. |
How will the "Holidays at Home are Great" campaign probably benefit London?
| A．It will offer 20. 12% discount to travelers' expenses. |
| B．It will attract more international travelers to visit London. |
| C．It will create more job opportunities and bring in more money. |
| D．It will prove London the most exciting, vibrant, cosmopolitan city on earth. |
In which section of a newspaper will this article be presented?
| A．Entertainment. | B．Politics. | C．Finance. | D．News. |