Fresh out of Barnard College, I was hired as a secretary to the editor of Coupon Magazine. Tiny circulation, but a real job. So now I had an income and an apartment in Manhattan—heaven for a young woman from a small town on Long Island.
Like so many women of my generation, I went straight from college to secretarial school to learn speedwriting, despite the fact that I had already co-written a book called New York on $5 a Day. So I learned the ropes, or at least I tried.
As a former lefty(左撇子) turned righty, my handwriting was hard to recognize—so bad that after taking notes, I couldn’t translate it. The magazine was making advertisements, so in letters to the heads of the company which wanted to advertise in our magazine, I was told to offer them the opportunity to place their ads in four colors in our magazine for the price of $10,000. Unknowingly, the “d” in ads became an “s”, and the president of one of those big companies was invited to “have his ass (臀部) in four colors” in our publication.
Guess what? He didn’t like it, and I was fired, but luck showed her face. The editor was looking for a copywriter (广告文字撰稿人) eagerly. I was heading for the door, depressed, when I heard her call out, “You—Joan! Can you write better than you can type?” I said, “Yes, of course.” A copywriter was born.According to the first paragraph, we can know that the author _____.
| A．was satisfied with her job as a secretary |
| B．was an ambitious woman |
| C．was successful at college |
| D．had a dream to become a famous writer |
In which order did Joan do the following things?
a. She was hired as a secretary of a small magazine.
b. She worked as a copywriter.
c. She was fired because of the mistake of spelling.
d. She learned speedwriting at secretarial school.
e. She wrote a book called New York on $5 a Day.
| A．a, b, c, d, e. | B．e, d, a, c, b. |
| C．e, d, b, c, a. | D．d, a, c, b, e. |
According to the passage, we can infer that _____.
| A．the author had talent for writing |
| B．the author was very unlucky |
| C．the author’s parents were very strict with her |
| D．the magazine which the author worked for had no future |
Why did the boss intend to fire the author?
| A．She was a former lefty. |
| B．She didn’t work seriously. |
| C．She made a mistake about the price of the ads. |
| D．Her wrong spelling annoyed a big customer. |
If you ask people to name a person who had the greatest effect on the English language, you will get answers like “Shakespeare” “Samuel Johnson” and “Webster”, but none of these men had any effect at all compared to a man who didn’t even speak English—William the Conqueror.
Before 1066, in the land we now call Great Britain lived people in two main language groups. One was a Celtic language, the other was what we now call Anglo-Saxon (or old English), a Germanic language. If this had lasted, English today would be close to German.
But this didn’t last. In 1066 the Normans led by William began their rule over England. For about a century, French became 
the official language of England while Old English became the language of farmers. As a result, English wor
ds of politics (政治) and the law come from French rather than German. In some cases, modern English even shows a difference between upper-class French and lower-class Old English in its words. We even have different words for some foods, meat in particular, depending on whether it is still out in the fields or at home ready to be cooked.
This shows the fact that the lower-class farmers were doing farming, while the upper-class Normans were doing most of the eating.
When Americans visit Europe for the first time, they usually find Germany more “foreign” than France because the German they see on signs and ads seems much more different from English than French does. Few realize that the English language is actually Germanic in its beginning and that the French influences are all the results of one
man’s ambition (野心).Before 1066, the two main languages spoken in the place wh
ich we now call “Great Britain” were __________.
| A．Germanic and French |
| B．Nordic and Germanic |
| C．Celtic and Old English |
| D．Old English and Germanic |
According to the passage, which of the following groups of words are most probably from French?
| A．President, lawyer and beef. |
| B．President, bread and water. |
| C．Bread, field and sheep. |
| D．Pig, cow and government. |
Why do Americans find France less foreign than Germany?
| A．Many signs and ads are in English. |
| B．They know little about the history of the English language. |
| C．Many French words are similar to English ones. |
| D．They know French better than German. |
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
| A．The History of Great Britain. |
| B．The Similarity (相似点) between English and French. |
| C．The Rule of England by William the Conqueror. |
| D．The French Influence on the English Language. |
The Roman Emperor Claudius II was fighting many wars. He wanted a strong army, but many men did not want to be soldiers. Claudius thought the men wanted to stay at home to be with their wives and children instead of leaving to fight wars.
Claudius thought of an awful solution to his problem. He decided to cancel all marriages! No one in all of Rome could get married. Claudius thought that if the men couldn’t get married, the men would ignore the women and want to be soldiers.
Valentine, who was a priest (牧师), believed that people needed to get married. He thought it was wrong for people to live together without being married. So he secretly and illegally married couples anyway. He performed the weddings in secret places, so the Roman soldiers would not find out.
But they did find out. Valentine was arrested and brought before the Emperor. The Emperor thought Valentine was a well-spoken and wise young man, and encouraged him to stop being a Christian (基督徒) and become a loyal Roman. Valentine would not deny his beliefs, and he refused. He was sent to prison and was finally killed. While he was in prison, he sent out letters to his friends and asked to be prayed (祈祷) for by writing Remember your Valentine.
Valentine was killed on the 14th or the 24th of February in the year 269 or 270. We celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th in honor of St. Valentine. The Emperor Claudius II wanted men to __________.
| A．live at home and work for the empire |
| B．become loyal Roman citizens |
| C．go to other countries and raise families |
| D．fight wars in other lands |
The underlined word “awful” in the second paragraph probably means __________.
| A．terrible | B．wonderful | C．possible | D．friendly |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Valentine believed in marriage and risked death to marry people. |
| B．Claudius wanted to stay at home with his wife. |
| C．Claudius thought Valentine was a man with a bright future. |
| D．Valentine broke the law. |
Given Australia’s size and the fact that early settlements were far apart, Australian society is remarkably homogeneous (同种的). Its citizens are fundamentally prosperous and the way of life in the major cities and towns is much the same however many miles divide them. It takes a sharp ear to identify regional accents.
However, there is some difference in lifestyle between city dwellers and the country people. Almost 90 per cent of the population lives in the fast-paced cities along the coast and has little more than a passing familiarity with the desert. The major cities preserve pockets of colonial heritage, but the overall impression is modern, with new buildings reflecting the country’s youth. In contrast, the rural communities tend to be slow-moving and conservative. For many years, Australia was said to have “ridden on the sheep’s back”, a reference to wool being the country’s main money earner. However, the wool industry is no longer dominant. Much of Australia’s relatively sound economy is now achieved from natural coal and wheat, and by being the largest diamond producer in the world. Newer industries such as tourism and wine making are also increasingly important. Australians are generally friendly and relaxed, with a self-deprecating sense of humor. On the whole, Australia is a society without hierarchies (等级制度), an attitude generally held to stem from its prisoner beginnings.
Yet, contrary to widespread belief, very few Australians have true prisoner origins. Within only one generation of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Australia had become a nation of immigrants. Originally coming almost entirely from the British Isles, today one in three Australians comes from elsewhere. Australia’s liberal postwar immigration policies led to an influx of survivors from war-torn Europe, most notably Greeks, Italians, Poles and Germans.
The emphasis has shifted in recent years and today the majority of new immigrants are from Southeast Asia. Today Australia is a ‘blend of nations’ and although some racism exists, it has generally been a successful experiment and the country is justifiably proud to have one of the most harmonious multicultural communities in the world.What does the writer mean by saying “It takes a sharp ear to identify regional accents.” in the first paragraph?
| A．Australians speak Standard English with no local accents. |
| B．You have to practice a lot to learn to understand the different accents. |
| C．The Australian regional accents are very difficult to understand indeed. |
| D．There is not much difference between the accents in different areas of Australia. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Most Australians have ancestors who were prisoners. |
| B．The Australian economy is dependent on sheep exports. |
| C．The majority of people living in Australia come from Europe. |
| D．The pace of life is different in the city and in the country. |
The underlined pronoun ‘it’ in the final paragraph refers to “_______”.
| A．Community | B．Racism |
| C．Blend of Nations | D．Southeast Asia |
We can infer from the passage that _____.
| A．there are no signs of Australia’s colonial past in its modern cities |
| B．Australia’s recent immigration policy encourages immigrants from Southeast Asia |
| C．immigrants from Southeast Asia have brought racial problems |
| D．“riding on sheep’s back” resulted in slow development in rural communities |
This passage mainly focuses on Australia’s ______.
| A．society | B．economy | C．racial problems | D．history |
The hole in the Earth's ozone layer (臭氧层) has until now protected Antarctica from the worst effects of global warming. But scientists have warned that as the hole closes up in the next few decades, temperatures on the continent could rise by around 3°C on average, with melting ice contributing to a global sea level increase of up to 1.4 meters.
In the past decades the western Antarctic has seen rapid ice loss as the world has warmed, but the other parts of the continent have, paradoxically, been cooling, resulting in a 10% increase in ice in the seas around the region. This is because the hole in the ozone layer has increased cold winds in Antarctica, making much of the continent surface colder than usual.
But now that the gasses that cause the ozone hole have been banned, scientists expect the hole to repair itself within the next 50 to 60 years. By then the cooling effect will have faded out and the Antarctic will face the full impact of global warming. This means an increase in average air temperatures of around 3°C and a reduction in sea ice by around a third.
The biggest threat to the continent comes from warming seas. Robert Johnson, a scientist who monitors Antarctica ice sheets, said, "The ice sheets in Antarctica are hundreds of metres thick. But once warm ocean waters start flowing underneath, the ice will begin thinning and could break up very quickly. "Thinning ice sheets cause ice to break away from the continent and to melt even faster. Escaping ice from western Antarctica has already resulted in a 10% rise in global sea level in recent decades.
Johnson believes that international action to reduce global warming is required immediately or it may be too late. "Everything is connected —Antarctica may be a long way away but it is an important part of the Earth's system," said Johnson. "It contains 90% of the world's ice, 70% of the world's fresh water and that is enough, if it melts completely, to raise sea levels by 63 meters."
Even in a worse-case situation scientists don't expect the ice to entirely disappear, but predict that, because of the melting ice sheets, average sea level rise will be around 1.4 meters higher by the end of the century. The underlined word "paradoxically" (in Paragraph 2) most probably means "__".
| A．rapidly | B．approximately | C．contradictorily | D．apparently |
What is the effect of the hole in the ozone layer on Antarctica?
| A．It is causing the ice to melt faster. |
| B．It is making much of the continent colder. |
| C．It is making the effects of global warming in the region worse. |
| D．It is reducing the amount of water in Antarctica. |
What do scientists think is the biggest danger facing Antarctica?
| A．Rising sea levels. | B．Warming sea water temperature. |
| C．Water pollution. | D．Growing ice sheets. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Antarctica is currently experiencing the full effects of global warming. |
| B．The average temperature has increased by3°C in recent decades. |
| C．Antarctica contains most of the world's fresh water. |
| D．Ten percent of Antarctica's ice has already been lost. |
The best title for the passage is ______.
| A．Our planet in danger | B．Antarctica melting away |
| C．Action plan to save Antarctica | D．Let's save the ozone layer |
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 tons 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 uncomfortable, 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 student’s 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 limit, most students tended to shower for half 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 pauses for soap. |
| C．If money runs out, there will be no water. |
| D．Having finished bathing, the student has to pay for it. |
The author’s attitude toward the students’ move is ________.
| A．critical | B．serious | C．appreciative | D．not mentioned |
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 will be set in other universities |
| D．Most students spend less than half an hour showing in the bathroom. |
In which column can you find this passage?
| A．People. | B．Society. | C．Campus Life | D．Lifestyle |