Every day on the road, accidents are caused. They do not only happen. The reason may be easy to see: an overloaded tray, a shelf out of reach, a patch of ice on the road. But more often than not there is a chain of events leading up to the misfortune-frustration, tiredness or just bad temper-that show what the accident really is, a sort of attack on oneself.
Road accidents, for example, happen frequently after a family quarrel, and we all know people who are accident-prone, so often at odds with themselves and the world that they seem to cause accidents for themselves and others.
By definition, an accident is something you cannot predict or avoid, and the idea which used to be current, that the majority of road accidents are caused by a minority of criminally careless drivers, is not supported by insurance statistics. These show that most accidents involve ordinary motorists in a moment of carelessness or thoughtlessness.
It is not always clear, either, what sort of conditions make people more likely to have an accident. For instance, the law requires all factories to take safety actions and most companies have safety committees to make sure the regulations are observed, but still, every day in Britain, some fifty thousand men and women are absent from work due to an accident. These accidents are largely the result of human error or misjudgment-noise and fatigue, boredom or worry are possible factors which contribute to this. Doctors who work in factories have found that those who drink too much, usually people who have a high anxiety level, run three times the normal risk of accidents at work.This passage might be written to .
| A．college students | B．drivers |
| C．ordinary citizens | D．businessmen |
“Accident-prone” in Paragraph 2 means .
| A．likely to have accidents | B．injured in accidents |
| C．likely to die in accidents | D．responsible for road accidents |
The passage suggests that .
| A．accidents mostly result from slippery roads |
| B．accidents are usually caused by psychological factors |
| C．doctors run three times the normal risk of accidents in factories |
| D．about 50,000 people lost their lives at work in Britain every day |
Which of the following is NOT discussed as a factor of accidents in this passage?
| A．Mood | B．Carelessness | C．Tiredness | D．Weather |
What do you think would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Accidents and Human | B．Why accidents happen |
| C．Human Factors in Accidents | D．How to Prevent Accidents |
Most people today think of chocolate as something sweet to eat or drink and can be easily found in stores around the world. It might surprise you that chocolate was once highly treasured.
The wealthy people of Spain first enjoyed a sweetened chocolate drink. Later, the popularity of the drink spread throughout Europe. Chocolate remained a drink that only wealthy people could afford to drink until the eighteenth century. During the period known as the Industrial Revolution, new technologies helped make chocolate less costly to produce.
Farmers grow cacao trees in many countries in Africa, Central and South America, but these trees are difficult to grow. They require an exact amount of water, warmth, soil and protection. After about five years, cacao trees start producing large fruits called pods, which grow near the trunk of the tree. The seeds inside these pods are harvested to make chocolate. Growing cacao is very hard work for farmers. Today, chocolate industry officials, activists, and scientists are working with farmers. They are trying to make sure that cacao can be grown in a way that is easy for the farmers and safe for the environment.
The market value of the yearly cacao crop around the world is more than five billion dollars. Chocolate is especially popular in Europe and the United States. Each year, Americans eat an average of more than 5 kilograms of chocolate per person. Specialty shops that sell costly chocolate are also very popular. Many offer chocolate lovers the chance to taste chocolate grown in different areas of the world.
| A．served with a drink in old times |
| B．popular with people around the world |
| C．a drink enjoyed by the rich in old times |
| D．bought easily in stores in old times |
| A．A warm climate. | B．Official aid. |
| C．New technologies. | D．Scientific protection. |
| A．Simple and time-saving. |
| B．Safe and labour-saving |
| C．Easy and labour-saving |
| D．Easy and environment-friendly. |
| A．Scientists are trying to help people find various cacaos. |
| B．The chocolate industry is developing rapidly only in European countries. |
| C．People in America love to produce dear chocolate. |
| D．Chocolate making is probably a big international business. |
Doctors have known for a long time that extremely loud noises can cause hearing damage or loss. The noise can be the sound of a jet airplane or machines in factories of loud music or other common sound at home and at work. A person only needs to hear the noise for little more than one second to be affected.
An American scientist has found that using aspirin (阿斯匹林) increase the temporary（暂时的）hearing loss or damage from loud noise. He did an experiment using a number of students at a university who all had normal hearing. He gave them different amounts of aspirin for different periods of time, then he tested their hearing ability. He found that students who were given four grams of aspirin a day for two days suffered much greater temporary hearing loss than those who did not use aspirin. The hearing loss was about two times as great.
The scientist said millions of persons in the U.S. use much larger amounts of aspirin than were used in his experiment. He said these persons face a serious danger of suffering hearing loss from loud noise.
| A．one may lose his hearing when he hears a terribly loud noise. |
| B．one may become deaf when he hears a loud noise. |
| C．loud noises can cause damage to the hearing of the young people only |
| D．common sounds at home are not harmful to the ear |
| A．makes hearing damage from loud noise worse |
| B．should never be taken more than four grams |
| C．can damage one’s hearing when it is given more than four grams daily |
| D．always increases hearing loss by two times |
| A．take too much aspirin |
| B．often take air trips |
| C．like listening to loud music |
| D．have too much loud noises at home and at work |
| A．how much aspirin would affect a person’s hearing |
| B．how much aspirin should be given in the treatment of the patients with hearing damage from loud noise |
| C．whether aspirin would increase the temporary hearing damage from loud noises |
| D．whether the people who had hearing damage should use aspirin |
"Do you like my dress?" she asked a passing stranger. "My mommy made it just for me." She said with tears in her eyes.
"I think it’s very pretty, but why are you crying?"
With a quiver（颤抖）in her voice the girl answered "After Mommy made me this dress she had to go to the heaven（天堂）Finally the woman realized what the child meant. She gently held the child in her arms and together they cried for the mommy that was gone.
Then suddenly the little girl stopped crying, stepped back and began to sing. She sang so softly that it was almost a whisper. It was the sweetest sound the woman had ever heard almost like the song of a very small bird.
After the child stopped singing she explained to the lady: "My mommy used that song to me before she went away, and she made me promise to sing it whenever I started crying and it would make me stop."
"See," she said, "it did, and now my eyes are dry!"
As the woman turned to go, the little girl grabbed her sleeve（袖子）. "Madam, can you stay just a minute? I want to show you something."
"Of course", she answered.
Pointing to a spot on her dress, she said: "Right here is where my mommy kissed my dress and here," pointing to another spot, "and here is another kiss, and here, and here. Mommy said that she put all those kisses so that I would have her kisses for everything that made me cry."
Then the lady realized that she wasn't just looking at a dress, no, she was looking at a mother...who knew that she was going away and would not be there to kiss away the hurt that she knew her daughter would get. So she took all the love she had for her beautiful little girl and put them into this dress that her child now so proudly wore.
She no longer saw a little girl in a simple dress. She saw a child wrapped（包裹）… in her mother's love.
| A．Because she wanted the woman to stay longer. |
| B．Because she wanted to stop the woman crying. |
| C．Because her mother had told her to sing when she was sad. |
| D．Because her mother had asked her to be nice to strangers. |
| A．her daughter would wear the dress proudly all the time |
| B．her love could help her daughter get through the troubles |
| C．her love could get her daughter things |
| D．her daughter would think of her kisses while she was crying |
| A．how much the mother had cared about the girl |
| B．how much the girl had depended on her mother |
| C．that the woman was very helpful to the girl |
| D．that no one can take the place of a mother |
| A．In a pretty dress with mother's kisses |
| B．With a crying girl in a pretty dress |
| C．From her mother with deep love |
| D．For love from a mother in the heaven |
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 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 would 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, and 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 unhealthy pastime, it also gives 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 steer them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.
| A．Those who often take exercise. |
| B．Those who often watch television. |
| C．Those who often have meals at home. |
| D．Those who often walk to school. |
| 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 too many fast food shops around |
| A．force | B．guide |
| C．expect | D．observe |
| A．tell a story | B．provide facts |
| C．give advice | D．compare opinions |
It was a cold December and Mrs. Bell wanted to do a lot of shopping. She waited until it was Saturday, when her husband was free, and she took him to the shops with her to pay for everything and to carry for her what she had bought. They went to a lot of shops, and Mrs. Bell bought everything she could think of.
She often stopped and said, “Look, Peter! Isn’t that beautiful?”
“All right, my dear. How much is it?” answered Mr. Bell, and then he took money out to buy it for her.
It was almost dark when they came out of the last shop, and Mr. Bell was tired. He was thinking about a nice drink by the side of a warm fire home. Suddenly his wife looked up at the sky and said, “Look at that beautiful moon, Peter!”
Without stopping, Mr. Bell answered at once. “All right, dear. How much is it?” Then he took his wallet out of his pocket.
| A．he liked beautiful things |
| B．he liked to do shopping too. |
| C．she wanted him to pay money |
| D．he was always free |
| A．nothing |
| B．a drink |
| C．the most beautiful thing |
| D．a number of things |
| A．was addicted to |
| B．was thinking about |
| C．was tired of |
| D．was very interested in |
| A．wanted to buy the moon |
| B．did not really know what his wife was saying |
| C．was a millionair |
| D．did not like the idea of buying the moon |