2.26-meter-tall Yao Ming made his NBA debut (初次登台) on October 23, 2002 and got 6 points for the Houston Rockets in the game. The next day, he got 13 points in another game.
Most people think that Yao Ming is a born basketball player. But Yao said, "When you watch it on TV, it looks very easy. But when you are playing in the NBA, it is really not so easy." He said that joining the Houston Rockets was a new start and a new challenge. "I hope that through very hard work I can make everyone happy and help the Rockets win more games," he said.Yao Ming speaks some English. Both he and his teammates can understand each other. They don't think there is a language problem. While Yao Ming faces this new challenge, the people of Houston have shown great interest in him and they hope Yao Ming will bring new energy to the Rockets. The team has started having lessons to learn more about China, and many people who work for the Rockets have learned to speak some Chinese.Yao Ming got 13 points on October _____, 2002.
| A．22 | B．23 | C．24 | D．26 |
Yao Ming said that _____.
| A．playing in the NBA was difficult |
| B．it was hard to watch NBA games on TV |
| C．he was an NBA star |
| D．it was boring to play basketball |
From the passage we can know that Yao Ming ________.
| A．will work hard for his team |
| B．made the highest score in his first NBA game |
| C．can't understand his teammates |
| D．teaches the Rockets workers Chinese himself |
The passage is probably ______.
| A．an advertisement | B．a notice | C．a news report | D．an instruction |
14 days from just ￡2, 090 pp
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Price cover international airfares, departure taxes, fuel charge, local transportation all meals, entrance fees, guides, daily tours and visas for UK citizens.
Days 1-3: UK-Shanghai
Fly to the great city of Shanghai and in the evening sample traditional shanghai food. Visit the beautiful YU Garden, Old Town. Shanghai Museum, cross the Great Nampa Bridge and tour the Pudong area. Also explore Xintiandi with its 1920’s style Smkomen buildings and end your stay in shanghai with an amazing Huangpu river evening tour.
Days 4-7: Shanghai-Yangtze River Tour
Fly to Yichang and change （approx: one hour）to board your Yangtze River ship for the next four nights. E
njoy a tour of the three Gorges Dam before sailing on the grand Yangtze River, passing through the impressive Three Gorges. We take a side tripe to the lesser Three Gorges or travel up the Shennong Stream in a peapod boat and enjoy various shore trips along the way.
Day8: Chongqing—Chengdu
Get off in Chongqing and drive to Chengdu for an overnight stay.
Day9-10: Chengdu-Xi’an
Visit the famous Panda Reserve to see the lovely animals We then fly to the historic city of Xi’an for two nights stay and enjoy traditional Shuijiao. Next day, explore one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century—the Terracotta Warriors（兵马俑），followed by the ancient City wall and a performance of Tang Dynasty dancing.
Day11-13: Xi’an-Beijing
Visit little wild goose pagoda and see the ancient objects at the well-known Shanxi provincial museum before walking through the lively militia Quarter to see the Great Mosque. Later fly to Beijing for three nights stay and try Peking Duck. During our stay in Beijing, we stroll through Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden city, the largest and best preserved collection of ancient buildings in china, and visit the summer palace. Next day we take a walk on the Great wall, tour the unique Temple of Heaven and enjoy an attractive Chinese Acrzibatio show.
Day14: Beijing-UK
Fly back to the UK, arriving home later the same day filled with happy memories. 
. The underlined word “sample” in the passage probably means “___________”
| A．buy | B．reserve | C．taste | D．make |
. The first and last scenic spots to b
e visited in Xi’an are __________.
| A．the Terracotta Warriors and the Great Mosque |
| B．the Terracotta Warriors and shanghai provincial Museum |
| C．little wild goose Pagoda and Great Mosque |
| D．little wild goose Pagoda and the Muslim Quarter |
. The ad is mainly intended to ___________.
| A．encourage the British to travel in China |
| B．attract the British to traditional Chinese food |
| C．offer service of booking air tickets to tourists |
| D．provide the British with a better understanding of China. |
I love charity(慈善) shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street. The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won’t find in the shops anymore. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.
The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam. The famous charity’s appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful it had been flooded with donations(捐赠物). They decided to set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal. Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK. My favourite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children’s books, all 10 or 20 pence each.
Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don’t encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.
The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than ￡110 million a year, funding（资助）medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. What
better place to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense. You provide funds to a good cause and tread lightly o
n the environment.
. The author loves the charity shop mainly because of _______.
| A．its convenient location |
| B．its great variety of goods |
| C．its spirit of goodwill |
| D．its nice shopping environment |
. The first charity shop in the UK was set up to ____.
| A．sell cheap products |
| B．deal with unwanted things |
| C．raise money for patients |
| D．help a foreign country |
. Which of the following is TRUE about charity shops?
| A．The operating costs are very low. |
| B．The staff are usually well paid. |
| C．90% of the donations are second-hand. |
| D．They are open twenty-four hours a day. |
. Which of the following may be the best title for the passage?
| A．What to Buy a Charity Shops. |
| B．Charity Shop: Its Origin & Development. |
| C．Charity Shop: Where You Buy to Donate. |
| D．The Public’s Concern about Charity Shops. |
As I sat beside the window of our classroom that afternoon, my heart sank further with each passing car. This was a day I’d looked forward to for weeks: Miss Pace’s fourth-grade, end-of-the-year party.
I had happily volunteered my mother when Miss Pace looked for cookie volunteers. Mom’s chocolate chips were well-known, and I knew they’d be a hit with my classmates. But two o’clock passed, and there was no sign of her. Most of the other mothers had already come and gone, dropping off their sweet offerings.
The three o’clock bell soon took me away from my thoughts and I took my book bag from my desk.
I decided I would slam the front door, and refuse to return her hug. But when I arrived, she wasn’t at home.
I was lying face-down on my bed upstairs when I heard her come through the front door.
“Robbie,” she called out a bit urgently. “Where are you?”
I could then hear her rushing anxiously from room to room, wondering where I could be. I remained silent.
Coming through the door, she said: “I’m so sorry, honey,” she said. “I just forgot. I got busy and forgot.”
Then my mother did something completely unexpected. She began to laugh! How could she laugh at a time like this? I rolled over and faced her, ready to let her see my rage (愤怒).
But my mother wasn’t laughing at all. She was crying. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I let you down. I let my little boy down.”
I was moved by her tears.
I tried to remember her kind words from times past when I’d skinned knees or cut myself, times when she knew just the right thing to say.
“It’s okay, Mom. We didn’t even need those cookies. There was plenty of stuff to eat. Don’t cry. It’s all right. Really.”
We didn’t say another word. We just held each other. Whe
n we came to the point where I would usually pull away, I decided that, this time, I could hold on, perhaps, just a little bit longer.
. The author was pretty down because ______.
| A．he couldn’t go to the party he had been looking forward to |
| B．his mother didn’t turn up at the party as she had promised |
| C．his mother had refused to make chocolate chips for the party |
| D．the cookies his mom made was not popular at the party |
. When the author returned home, ______.
| A．he was so angry that he slammed the front door |
| B．he was silent and refused to return his mother’s hug |
| C．he rushed from room to room looking for his mother |
| D．he was disappointed that he couldn’t express his anger to his mother |
. We can tell from the story that _____.
| A．the mother didn’t get to the party because of the traffic jam |
| B．the mother was sorry for her absence and laughed at herself |
C．the author was a caring and thoughtf ul boy |
| D．the author was overcome with anger |
. The article expresses the message that ______.
| A．it is silly to be angry with your family |
| B．everybody should keep his or her promises |
| C．true love is based on understanding |
| D．understanding how to comfort people in low spirits is a true skill |
The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children．On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special．
However, the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington．A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909．Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her．It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices（牺牲） and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a selfless and loving man．Sonora’s father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spikane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910．
In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge declared the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day．Roses are the Father’s Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died．
When children can’t visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card．Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental（伤感的）．Most greeting cards are too special so fathers laugh when they open them．Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child need Dad．．The United States is special in Father’s Day because ______．
| A．many people celebrate the day | B．only America celebrates the day |
| C．America makes it an official day | D．all men are honored in America |
．At first, Father’s Day was fixed on June 19th because ______．
| A．Sonora honored her father on her father’s birthday |
| B．Sonora’s birthday was June 19 |
| C．it was decided by the president at that time |
| D．her mother died on June 19 |
．How many years has passed before Father’s Day became an official day since the father’s day was celebrated?
| A．4 | B．10 | C．14 | D．24 |
．According to the passage, on Father’s Day, ______．
| A．people will wear the same flowers to honor their fathers |
| B．only daughters wear red flowers to honor their fathers |
| C．children must go home to honor their fathers |
| D．fathers are often honored in different ways |
．According to the passage, we can infer that Henry Jackson Smart ______．
| A．was very kind to anyone | B．was the first father honored in 1924 |
| C．did a lot for his daughter | D．always help others by giving money |
Shopping is not as simple as you may think! There are all sorts of tricks each time we reach out for that particular brand（品牌）of product on the shelf.
Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell. Health foods are packaged（包装）in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours. Ice cream packets（包装） are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
When some kind of pain-killer （止痛药） was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective. Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package — blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm.
The size of a product can attract a shopper. But quite often a bottle doesn’t contain as much as it appears to.
It is believed that the better-known companies spend, on average, 70 percent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!
The most successful producers know that it’s not enough to have a good product. The founder of Pears Soap, who for 25 year has used pretty little girls to promote（促销）their goods, came to the conclusion: “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius（天才） to sell it.”. Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?
| A．The cost of its package | B．The price of the product |
| C．The colour of its package | D．The brand name of the product |
. The underlined part “the colours turned the customers off” (in Para.3) means that the colours ________ .
| A．attracted the customers strongly | B．had weak effects on the customers |
| C．tricked the customers into shopping | D．caused the customers to lose interest |
. Which of the following is the key to the success in product sales?
| A．The way to promote goods. | B．The team to produce a good product |
| C．The discovery of a genius. | D．The brand name used by successful producers. |
. Which of the following would be the best title for this text?
| A．Choice of Good Products. | B．Disadvantages of Products. |
| C．Effect of Packaging on Shopping. | D．Brand Name and Shopping Tricks. |