MaryandHerFriendsMaryhassomefr-优题课

“AN Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue (队伍) of one,” wrote famous British author George Mikes. While this sounds funny, it’s a popular English stereotype (刻板印象). From the supermarket to the subway, queues are a common sight on the streets of Britain.
Here in China, queues are normal, too. It is a part of everyday life. People queue most of the time, from buying tickets in the cinema to waiting for seats at a restaurant.
But in certain situations, you’ll find yourself in the middle of a rushing crowd, such as getting onto the subway. Even away from the busy subway platform (站台), queues are different. One day I was standing in line at the supermarket.
I left a small space in front of me. Within seconds, a girl walked by and took her place in that small space.
I was surprised at first, but later I found these experiences very interesting. It is with these small, everyday differences that I get to live and learn within a new culture.
Back in Britain, the average person spends six months of their life waiting in a queue, according to the auction site MadBid. To pass the time, maybe they tell themselves the famous proverb: good things come to those who wait.
The English are well known for _____.

A．forming an orderly queue

B．being rude and loud

C．traveling on subways

D．spending more time waiting in a queue

The purpose of the article is to _____.

A．call on people in China to queue more

B．compare queuing in two cultures

C．praise the English for following good manners

D．explain why people rush in some situations

In which part of a newspaper would you most probably read this article?

A．Sports.

B．News.

C．Culture.

D．Business.

MANY 15-year-olds don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. Abby Harris knows she wants to become an astronaut and isn’t letting anything stop her.
According to Harris’ Internet blog, Astronaut Abby, she has wanted to be the first astronaut to walk on Mars since she was 5 years old.
Harris wrote that at the beginning, most people didn’t take her dream seriously. But she stuck with (坚持) it.
“I made plans, I worked hard and I focused on (集中于) my goal. As I got older and continued to stay focused on science, people in my life began to notice and encouraged me to dream big,” she wrote.
In the 7th grade, Harris was doing a project on the International Space Station. She set up a Twitter account to get in touch with NASA. But soon she found that it was a great place for her to write about her dreams and talk with others who are interested in space. Her friends on Twitter then helped her create her website and blog, Astronaut Abby.
What’s more, Harris has a real astronaut as her mentor. Several years ago, Harris ran into Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano at an airport. They talked for an hour and Parmitano agreed to become her mentor. Now Parmitano is in the International Space Station. Harris e-mails him every day to learn about his experiences.
It’s not easy to become an astronaut, but Harris is confident about herself.
“If you work really hard at something, it can happen. And it will happen,” she said.
What’s the meaning of the word “mentor” (in paragraph 6) ?

A．朋友

B．导师

C．徒弟

D．助手

Abby Harris set up a Twitter account in order to _______.

A．learn more about space	B．make more friends online
C．tell others about her dream	D．introduce her website and blog

Where did Harris meet Luca Parmitano?

A．In Italy.	B．On the street.
C．At an airport.	D．In the International Space Station.

Millions of British people have ditched the traditional “thank you” and took the place of it with the less formal “cheers”, according to a survey.
Although the common person will say “thank you” nearly 5,000 times a year, one in three are more likely to add a “cheers” or “ta” where it’s needed to show they are fashionable.
One in twenty now say “nice one” instead, while the younger are more likely to offer a “cool” than a “thank you”.
“Merci”, “fab” and even “gracias” were also listed as common phrases to use, as “much appreciated(感激)”.
One in twenty who took part in the survey of 2,000 people by the Food Network UK for Thank You Day, which is marked on November 24, 2011, said a formal “thank you” was now not often needed in everyday conversation. More than one in ten adults said they regularly won’t say thank you if they are in a bad mood. Most people stated that saying thank you was something that their parents trained them. A huge 70 percent of those questioned will say thank you to a person’s face without even meaning it, while one fifth avoid(避免)saying it when they know they should.
It seems our friends and family get the stress of our bad manners. Half of them admit (承认) they’re not good at thanking those closest to them. Many of them explain that they don’t say thank you because their family “already know I’m grateful”.
When spoken words won’t do, it falls to a nice text to do the job for most people.
One third will still send a handwritten thank-you note---but 45 percent admit it’s been more than six months since they tried to send one.
A quarter of British people say “thank you” with food, with 23 percent cooking a meal to show their appreciation to someone. Another 15 percent bake a cake.
It follows that 85 percent of people will be angry because of not getting the gratitude (感激)
they feel they should receive.
Most of the people who took part in the survey say that they say “thank you” _______.

A．when they are in good mood	B．completely out of habit
C．when they feel truly grateful	D．purely out of politeness

The underlined word “ditched” in Paragraph 1 means “________”.

A．gave up

B．used

C．shared

D．knew

It can be learned from the passage that _______.

A．different ways of expressing gratitude are all fashionable

B．people should avoid saying “thank you” nowadays

C．a thank-you note is still appreciated by most people

D．people in a bad mood never say “thank you”

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Most people express their gratitude to others by buying food for them.

B．About fifty percent of people try not to say thank you when they should.

C．Most people may feel natural when they fail to receive others’ gratitude.

D．Many people think it unnecessary to say thanks to their family members.

It seems that there’s a good reason why dogs are always seen as man’s best friend. Scientists have found that dogs are the only animals that can read emotion(情感)in faces much like humans. The finding suggests that like an understanding friend, dogs can see if we are happy, sad, pleased or angry.
When humans look at a new face, their eyes usually look across the left, falling on the right hand side of the person’s face first. A possible reason for this is that the right side of the human face is better at expressing emotions.
Scientists have now shown that pet dogs also have “left gaze bias(左视偏好)”, but only when looking at human faces. No other animal has been known to do like this before. Dr. Kun Guo showed 17 dogs pictures of human, dog and monkey faces as well as something else with his team. The dogs’ eyes and heads show a strong left gaze bias when the animals see human faces. But this did not happen when they were shown other pictures, including those of dogs.
Guo suggests that over thousands of years living with humans, dogs may have developed the left gaze bias as a way to guess our emotions.
“Recent studies show that the right side of our faces can express emotions better than the left. If true, then it makes sense for dogs and humans to see the right hand side of a face first.”
Why are dogs seen as man’s best friend according to the passage?

A．Because dogs are the closest animals to humans.

B．Because dogs can read the emotions in humans’ faces easily.

C．Because dogs can understand us better when we feel sad.

D．Because dogs are good at expressing emotions.

The dogs’ left gaze bias helps them _______.

A．get along well with humans	B．express emotions quickly
C．have more understanding friends	D．remember more new faces

The passage mainly wants to tell us that _______.

A．dogs have been man’s best friends for thousands of years

B．humans have a “left gaze bias”

C．the “left gaze bias” works on all animals

D．dogs can read emotions the same as humans

Do you want to know something about children in Africa? What do they do for fun every day? Find out here:
Education
School is expensive for many African children. Lots of families can’t afford school uniforms or exercise books even though they don’t have to pay for school.
For those lucky enough to go to school, they have a lot to learn. Some take two language classes: English or French, and their first languages. There is also math, science, history and geography. Chores take up much of children’s time after school. They have to get water and firewood for the family every day. Also there’s cleaning, washing and helping Mum with the meal.
Daily fun
It’s not all work and no play. Sports are very popular. Children can make goals with twigs(嫩枝) and their own footballs with plastic and bits of string(绳子).They play in the country and the streets of old towns. There’re many football teams for teenagers in Africa.
Internet
It’s really expensive to get on the Internet. To surf the net for 20 hours costs 600yuan.This is more than the average（平均的） monthly pay per person.
Egypt and South Africa are the top two users of the Internet in Africa. All of the capital cities there can get on the Internet.
Some schools offer computer lessons but few students can enjoy computer fun at home.
The underlined word “Chores” probably means______.

A．网上冲浪

B．家务杂活

C．体育活动

D．家庭作业

Sports are very popular in Africa because children_______.

A．do not need money to play	B．can play all kinds of ball games
C．don’t like to go to school	D．don’t like to do their homework

In Africa ,how many hours can you use all your pay to surf the Internet in a year .And you only have the average pay.

A． 20 hours	B． more than 240 hours
C．about 240 hours	D．about 20 hours

A．study in the same school	B．like to play basketball
C．good runners	D．work hard