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 tones 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” (Paragraph3) most probably means______.
A.perfection | B.advantage | C.pity | D.fault |
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 solve the water crisis. |
B.The new operation can raise students’ environmental awareness. |
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. |
The iPhone has become one of the most popular mobile phones in the United States. An 18-year-o1d student in California has used his knowledge of the device to create his own business,gaining national recognition for his work.
Vincent Quigg is the CEO of TechWorld. His company is kind of like a hospital for iPhones,specializing in customizing and repairing iPhones. Vincent Quigg launched TechWorld while in high school. “My mom became single a couple of years ago and I had to grow up. And in order to keep my lifestyle, I had to find different ways to keep my phone, keep a car, transportation and all that stuff. So I had to find ways to be entrepreneurial.” An organization cal1ed the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. or NFTE, helped the young man get started. His mother, Carla Quigg: “He quit the class, which made me very disappointed.”
“It was extremely hard for myself to find a business to start and run with it. But once I had that ‘aha moment’or what I knew I wanted to go with, it was really easy and extremely fun.”
At the time, Vincent worked for the electronics store BestBuy. He says people always came into the store with broken electronic devices. He decided that repairing those devices was what he wanted to do. He not only re-registered for the NFTE class, but he also won the organization’s national competition for best young entrepreneur.His business has grown through word-of-mouth. Vincent says he now fixes up to l0 phones per week. He earns about $l,500 each month in sales. TechWorld has two other employees. Kacee Wheeler is one of them. He works on the technical side of the business while Vincent Quigg now deals with finances and planning. He says he wants to continue to grow his business.What is Vincent Quigg’s company specialized in?
A.Customizing and repairing iPhones. | B.Advertising and selling iPhones. |
C.Helping students set up business. | D.Offering people medical advice. |
What drove Vincent to start his own business?
A.His special family education background. |
B.The need to keep his former way of 1ife. |
C.The desire to be the CEO of a company. |
D.The encouragement from another company. |
What does the underlined phrase “aha moment” probably mean?
A.The moment to celebrate success. |
B.The moment to comp1ain hardship. |
C.The moment to have a great idea. |
D.The moment to have great fun. |
What can we 1earn from the text?
A.Vincent started his own business with the help of his col1ege. |
B.Vincent went through great difficulty in the beginning. |
C.Vincent promotes his business by large scale advertisements. |
D.Vincent’s mother was disappointed by his achievement. |
Shopping for clothes is not the same experience for a man as it is for a woman. A man goes shopping because he needs something. His purpose is settled and decided in advance. He knows what he wants, and his objective is to find it and buy it; the price is a secondary consideration. All men simply walk into a shop and ask the assistant for what they want. If the shop has it in stock, the salesman promptly produces it, and the business of trying it on goes forward at once. All being well, the deal can be and often is completed in less than five minutes, with hardly any chat and to everyone's satisfaction. For a man, slight problems may begin when the shop does not have what he wants, or does not have exactly what he wants. In that case the salesman, as the name implies, tries to sell the customer something else, he offers the nearest he can to the article required. No good salesman brings out such a substitute without least consideration; he does so with skill and polish(完美): “I know this jacket is not the style you want, sir, but would you like to try it for size. It happens to be the color you mentioned." Few men have patience with this treatment, and the usual response is: “This is the right color and may be the right size but I should be wasting my time and yours by trying it on.
Now how does a woman go about buying clothes? In almost every respect she does so in the opposite way. Her shopping is not often based on need. She has never fully made up her mind what she wants, and she is only “having a look round". She is always open to persuasion: indeed she sets great store by what the saleswoman tells her, even by what companions tell her. She will try on any number of things. Uppermost in her mind is the thought of finding something that everyone thinks suits her. Contrary to a lot of jokes, most women have an excellent sense of value when they buy clothes. They are always on the lookout for the unexpected bargain. Faced with a roomful of dresses, a woman may easily spend an hour going from one rail to another, to and fro often retracing her steps, before selecting the dresses she wants to try on. It is a tiresome process, but apparently an enjoyable one. Most dress shops provide chairs for the waiting husbands.According to the passage, a man’s shopping is based on _______.
A.his money | B.his hobbies | C.his need | D.his friends |
Why does a lady welcome suggestions from anyone while buying a dress?
A.Because she wants to buy a dress that every one thinks suits her. |
B.Because she doesn’t know how to buy a dress. |
C.Because she doesn’t know whether to buy it or not. |
D.Because she wants to show herself off in public. |
What does a man do when he can not get exactly what he wants?
A.He buys a similar thing of the colour he wants. |
B.He usually does not buy anything. |
C.At least two of his requirements must be met before he buys. |
D.So long as the style is right, he buys the thing. |
The passage mainly talks about the ______ between men shoppers and women shoppers for clothes.
A.similarities | B.differences | C.varieties | D.intentions |
[1] Look at the center circles of Diagram A and Diagram B. Which of the centre circles looks larger?
[2] Take a first look and you probably think that the centre circle in Diagram A is smaller than that in Diagram B. In fact, they are exactly the same size.
[3]Then look at the picture on the right. What do you see? A vase? Or two faces? Does the picture change quickly from one to the other again and again? Maybe or maybe not, but you can see them at the same time.
[4]“What’s happening? Is something wrong with my eyes?” You may wonder at what you see. Don’t worry. Here is how it goes:
[5]When we look at things, our eyes send messages to our brains and then our brains interpret the information. However, sometimes our brains interpret the received information in a wrong way. It seems that our eyes are playing a joke on us. This often happens and we call it “Visual illusion(幻觉)”.
[6] Movie makers often make use of illusions. They make the objects around actors much smaller or bigger than usual. This makes us believe that the actors are much larger or smaller than they usually are. The movies Jurassic Park and Honey J shrunk the kids just make use of illusions.In which column of a magazine can you read the above text?
A.Culture. | B.Science. | C.Humour. | D.Education. |
The centre circle in Diagram A looks smaller than that in Diagram B, That’s because____.
A.something is wrong with our eyes |
B.the two circles are not of the same size |
C.our brains interpret the information wrongly |
D.pictures change quickly from one to the other |
In the picture on the right, it seems that Line AB is shorter than line CD, but in fact line AB is as long as Line CD. Which paragraph can explain what has happened to our eyes?
A. The second one. B. The third one. C. The sixth one.. D. The fifth oneWhat’s the right order according to the text?
a. We look at things with our eyes. b. Our brains interpret the messages.
c. Our brains tell us what we have seen.d. Our eyes send messages to our brains.
A. a-d-b-cB c-a-b-d C a-c-d-b D. b-e-a-d
To: "The Shoe People" <inquiries@shoepeople.com>
From: "John Trimbald" <jtconstruction@img.com>
Subject: Customer Complaint
To Whom it May Concern,
I have trusted the Shoe People to protect the feet of my employees for over ten years now. I recently purchased a few pairs of boots from your company for my crew. Though my men were initially satisfied with the boots, the soles began to fall apart on them after just twelve weeks. This was extremely surprising considering they came with a six year warranty. The boots are unsafe to wear because my men are pouring hot concrete. Please respond as soon as possible with instructions on how I can return the boots and receive a refund.
Thank you,
John Trimbald, Foreman, JT Construction
To: “John Trimbald” <jtconstruction @ img. com>
From: “The Shoe People” <inquiries @ shoepeople. com>
Dear Mr. Trimbald,
Thank you for your e-mail concerning the poor quality of our rubber soled black workboots. A representative will be by your office next week to pick up the damaged boots. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you and your crew.
Along with five new pairs of workboots for your crew (we included one extra pair), we have enclosed a free year's supply of sole protector spray. In our retail stores, this spray is always recommended to buyers who work on heated floors. This should have been brought to your attention at the time of your initial order. Please excuse our oversight.
To date we have had no complaints about these workboots from customers who have used the protector spray. However, should you use the spray and find that you are still unsatisfied with the boots, please return the boots and spray for a full refund. Thank you for supporting The Shoe People. Have a Happy New Year.
Sincerely,
Stan Mason, PresidentThe first email is basically an email of.
A.apology | B.sympathy | C.appreciation | D.complaint |
What’s wrong with the boots John Trimbald bought?
A.The soles of the boots began to fall apart. |
B.The color of the boots had shaded a lot. |
C.The boots didn’t fit the workers well. |
D.The patterns of the boots didn’t satisfy the workers. |
What is the underlined word “spray” used for according to the passage?
A.To repair the damaged boots. | B.To protect the soles from heat. |
C.To prevent the crew from danger. | D.To protect the boots from concrete. |
According to the president of The Shoe People, John Trimbald.
A.can exchange the damaged boots with new ones at any time |
B.must return the damaged boots to any of the retail stores |
C.will get new pairs of boots and a free year’s supply of spray |
D.can return the damaged boots and spray for a full refund now |
One girl decided to study judo(柔道) although she had lost her left arm in a car accident.
The girl began lessons with an old Japanese judo instructor. The girl was doing well. So she couldn’t understand why, after three months of training, the instructor had taught her only one move.
“Instructor,” the girl finally said, “Shouldn’t I be learning more moves?”
“This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know,” the instructor replied.
Not quite understanding, but believing in her teacher, the girl kept training.
Several months later, the instructor took the girl to her first tournament. Surprising herself, the girl easily won her first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, her opponent became impatient and charged. The girl skillfully used her one move to win the match. Still amazed by her success, the girl was now in the finals.This time, her opponent was bigger, stronger and more experienced. For a while, the girl appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the girl might get hurt, the referee(裁判员) called a time-out. She was about to stop the match when the instructor intervened(干预).
“No,” the instructor insisted, “Let her continue.”
Soon after the match restarted, her opponent made a serious mistake: she dropped her guard. Instantly, the girl used her move to pin her opponent. The girl had won the match and the tournament. She was the champion.
On the way home, the girl and her teacher reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the girl gathered the courage to ask what was really on her mind.
“Instructor, how did I win the tournament with only one move?”
“You won for two reasons,” the teacher answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. Second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.”
The girl’s biggest weakness had become her biggest strength.What can we learn about the girl?
A.She was disabled in an accident. | B.She disliked judo training. |
C.She learnt several moves. | D.She won the first two matches hard. |
The underlined word “overmatched” probably means .
A.impatient | B.depressed | C.defeated | D.trapped |
The girl won the championship because of .
A.her bravery | B.her tricks | C.her skills | D.her strength |
Which of the following is probably the best title of the story?
A.The Story of a Girl. | B.A Disabled Girl. |
C.Defense Matters. | D.Weakness Becomes Strength. |