The trip to the United State opened my eyes to the fact that there are a lot of similarities as well as differences between American youth and French youth.
The first difference is in appearance. Going around in the U.S., I found that American youth do not really care about their appearance. In the morning, they choose something in their closet and wear it with another thing, often of different colors and styles, without wondering whether their choices make them look strange. The reason behind this is that they don’t care what people look like, but are just interested in their ideas. I think it’s great, but it also causes problems. Since they don’t care about their appearance, they don’t really care about their weight. Often they get fat without realizing it.
There are differences in relationships too. When the American youth fall in love, they don’t really think of the future. Also, there are differences in the rules concerning behavior that is allowed. In some respects, the French are more accepting. For example, in America it is generally unacceptable to make physical display of love. Lovers, actually, can’t kiss or hold each other everywhere they want. People think that not showing love in public places is a way to respect others. On the contrary, the French youth can do almost everything they want.
As for other types of relationships, there are also big differences. Americans act differently from French people in front of unknown people. When an American girl, for example, arrives in front of people she has never met before, she will talk with them, trying to create a kind of tie between her and this new circle of people. The French girls will just think about rather than really do this kind of thing because they are too shy and lacking in self-confidence.
To finish, I noticed that in American classes, when pupils want to say or ask something, they just do it. In general, they don’t really care how the others will judge them. In France, it’s not the same case. If somebody wants to ask something, he/she will think about it before speaking up. I appreciate the freedom in Americans’ behavior, ideas, and ways of expressing themselves.The underlined word “respects” in the third paragraph probably means____.
| A．approaches | B．aspects | C．honors | D．means |
When American youth fall in love with each other, they _________.
| A．will not hold each other |
| B．will rarely display their love in public |
| C．will always think about their future |
| D．will kiss wherever they like |
It can be inferred from the passage that French youth may think more about ______.
| A．their relationship’s future | B．their public images |
| C．their physical displays | D．their lover’s ideas |
The passage is mainly about the______ between American youth and French youth.
| A．differences | B．friendship | C．similarities | D．relationships |
I can remember the day my father came home from the war. As he walked up the front path of our home, he saw Mum and me and he dropped the suitcase.
I was only five years old so Dad made a fuss of me, then began making an even bigger fuss of my mother. This left me free to examine all the stuff lying around the broken suitcase, and I was quick to notice a newspaper advertisement displaying a new piano. When Dad saw me holding up the newspaper cutting, he smiled.
“Yes, that’s right,” he said. “I bought your mum a piano for ten pounds down and two pounds a week.”
A few moments later, a horse pulled a cart with a piano on top. Soon we all stared at it in our small lounger room. Mum had never been close to a piano before, except at the kindergarten I attended, and she used to say how wonderful it would be if the teachers could teach her to play.
After tea that night, Mum began to teach herself to play. She plinked the keys for about two hours and drove everybody in the street mad, until Dad gently said, “Enough is enough.”
From that day on, she would plink between doing the cooking and housework. Three months went by and Mum was now a skilled pianist, holding parties with all the neighbors gathering around to sing.
Although we were poor, Mum felt like a princess and was delighted at all the attention she was receiving.
At the height of Mum’s happiness, I began to notice that Dad was looking increasingly worried. It turned out that since returning from the war, he’d been unable to find a job. Then, a few weeks later, I observed two men taking Mum’s piano away. Mum sobbed in the kitchen. Suddenly, it all became clear to me: no job, no money, no piano.
Dad finally got a job. Mum was happy again as if he’d just win the lottery(彩票). Dad had to study to qualify as an account. Every night after dinner he’d place a stack of books on the kitchen table and study late into the night. Mum didn’t say much but I could tell she was proud of Dad.
Two years later, Dad bought Mum another piano. This time he paid cash for it.How did the author’s Dad buy the piano for his mum?
| A．He paid part of the bill regularly. |
| B．He earned it by winning a bet. |
| C．He paid cash for it. |
| D．He bought it as a big bargain. |
By saying “Enough is enough”, the author’s dad meant_______.
| A．practice makes perfect |
| B．it was time to stop practicing |
| C．he couldn’t bear being troubled |
| D．his wife played the piano well enough |
What made the author’s mum proud of his dad?
| A．His dad’s willingness to help cook. |
| B．His dad’s winning the lottery luckily. |
| C．His dad’s loyalty to his motherland. |
| D．His dad’s determination to rebuild his life. |
Many facts suggest that children are overweight and the situation is getting worse, according to the doctors. I feel there are a number of reasons for this.
Some people blame the fact that we are surrounded (包围) by shops selling unhealthy, fatty foods, such as fried chicken and ice-cream, at low prices. This has turned out a whole generation of grown-ups who seldom cook a meal for themselves. If there were fewer of these restaurants, then probably children will buy less take away food.
There is another argument that blames parents for allowing their children to become overweight. I agree with this because good eating habits begin early in life, long before children start to visit fast food shops. If children are given fried chicken and chocolate rather than healthy food or are always allowed to choose what they eat, they will go for sweet and salty foods every time, this will carry on throughout their lives.
There is a third reason for this situation. Children these days take very little exercise. They do not walk to school. When they get home, they sit in front of the television or their computers and play computer games. Not only is this an pastime(消遣), it also give them time to eat more unhealthy food. What they need is to go outside and play active games or sports.
The above are the main reasons for this problem, and therefore we have to encourage young people to be more active, as well as steering them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.According to the passage, what kind of children may eat more unhealthy food?
| A．Those who often took exercise. |
| B．Those who often watch TV. |
| C．Those who often have meals at home. |
| D．Those who often walk to school. |
The author thinks that children are becoming overweight because _____.
| A．their parents often cook meals for them |
| B．they are too busy to go out and play |
| C．they can’t choose what to eat |
| D．there are so many fast food shops around |
The word “steering”underlined in the last sentence most probably means _____.
| A．forcing | B．guiding | C．driving | D．moving |
The main purpose of the passage is to _____.
| A．tell a story | B．provide facts | C．give advice | D．compare opinions |
According to this advertisement ,at the Forum people _________.
| A．come together in order to form an organization |
| B．eat together to celebrate their success or victory |
| C．work together for the purpose of business or trade |
| D．express different opinions and discuss public matters |
If you register both the VIEW qualification course and the Forum at the same time ,you will save .
A．$100 B．$350 D．$400 D．$300“Space is limited ,so early registration is welcome” means.
| A．you’ll lose the good chance if you don’t register soon |
| B．space is limited ,so you can’t register now |
| C．space is too limited for you to register |
| D．you’ll be given a special offer if you register now |
The main purpose of this advertisement is to .
| A．promise everyone can pay less money to attend the Forum |
| B．encourage more people to attend the Forum in time |
| C．call on the people in the north of the USA to go south for holidays |
| D．introduce some new activities and topics of the Forum |
Since many of you are planning to study at a college or university in this country, you may be curious to know what you usually do in a typical week, how you can get along with your fellow students, and so on. These are the questions I want to discuss with you today.
First, let’s talk about what your weekly schedule will look like. No matter what your major may be, you can expect to spend between four and six hours a week for each class attending lectures. Lectures are usually in very large rooms because some courses such as introduction to sociology or economics often have as many as two or three hundred students, especially at large universities. In lectures, it’s very important for you to take notes on what the professor says because the information a lecture is often different from the information in your textbooks. Also, you can expect to have exam questions based on the lectures. So it isn’t enough to just read your textbooks; you have to attend lectures as well. In a typical week you will also have a couple of hours of discussion for every class you take. The discussion section is a small group meeting usually with fewer than thirty students where you can ask questions about the lectures, the reading, and the homework. In large universities, graduate students, called teaching assistants, usually direct discussion sections.
If your major is chemistry, or physics, or another science, you’ll also have to spend several hours a week in the lab, or laboratory, doing experiments. This means that science majors spend more time in the classroom than non science majors do. On the other hand, people who major in subjects like literature or history usually have to read and write more than science majors do.The main purpose of this text is.
| A．to persuade the students to attend lectures |
| B．to encourage the students to take part in discussions |
| C．to advise the students to choose proper majors |
| D．to help the students to learn about university life. |
We can learn from the passage that university professors.
| A．spend about 5 hours on lectures each week |
| B．must join the students in the discussion sections |
| C．require the students to read beyond the textbooks |
| D．prefer to use textbooks in their lectures |
A discussion section does NOT include.
| A．talking over what the students have read about the courses |
| B．working under the guidance of university professors |
| C．discussing the problems related to the students’ homework |
| D．raising questions about what a professor has said in a lecture |
According to the author, science majors.
| A．read and write less than non science majors |
| B．have to work harder than non science majors |
| C．spend less time on their studies than non science majors |
| D．consider experiments more important than discussions |
I fell in love with England because it was quaint (古雅)—all those little houses, looking terribly old-fashioned but nice, like dolls’ houses. I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London. I’ve slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it’s an ugly town now.
Things have changed. For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play, and good manners. The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good manners—people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.
I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places. You’re forced to live indoors. In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs. To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman. The cafes are not terribly nice.
As a woman, I feel unsafe here. I spend a bomb on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p. m. I used to use it, but now I’m afraid.
The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England. My family is well united and that’s typically French. In Middlesex I had a neighbour who is 82 now. His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone.The writer doesn’t like London because she ______.
| A．has lived there for seventeen years |
| B．prefers to live in an old-fashioned house |
| C．is not used to the life there now |
| D．has to be polite to everyone she meets there |
Where do people usually meet their friends in England?
| A．In a pub. | B．In a cafe. | C．In a restaurant. | D．In a nightclub. |
The writer took her neighbour to France for Christmas because he ______.
| A．had never been to France | B．was from a typical French family |
| C．didn't like the British idea of family | D．felt lonely in England |