The hit movie Notting Hill begins with a famous scene. Hugh Grant bumps (撞) into Julia Roberts and spills (洒) orange juice all over her. After the collision, Grant repeatedly says: “ I am so sorry. I am so sorry.”
His actions in this scene are very British. If Roberts’ character were from Britain then she would probably apologize repeatedly as well—even if the crash were not her fault. But this doesn’t happen in the film, as Roberts is from the US.
A report in The Telegraph last week said that three-quarters of British people apologize when they bump into someone in the street — regardless of whether they are responsible or not. In fact, we Britons use “sorry” in many situations. For example, if we mishear someone, we say “Sorry?” The person we are talking to will also apologize by replying: “No, I am sorry!” This can go on for up to five minutes as we compete over who is the most sorry.
Life is never as simple as “duibuqi” and “meiguanxi”.
How we use “sorry” has changed. Traditionally, “sorry” was used to express deep regret, but a survey in 2007 showed that we use it to mean anything from “what” to “whatever”.
Why are Britons so sorry? Mark Tyrell, a psychology writer in the UK, thinks about our apologetic tendencies are rooted in the British class system. We say sorry because historically the new middle classes in Britain had to apologize for not being working class, but also for not really being upper class. Another theory is that we apologize to avoid confrontation(冲突). For example, if you bump into someone they might get angry. To avoid this we instantly say “Sorry!”.
True manners are about being considerate and the modern day obsession with apologizing show that we are perhaps not as thoughtful as we once were. The word has lost some of its meaning. Do you see my point? Sorry, it might just be a British thing…What can we infer from paragraph 2?
| A．In fact Roberts are responsible for the collision. |
| B．People from the US say “sorry” more than British people. |
| C．There is no crash happening in the film. |
| D．British people say sorry even if it is not their fault. |
Which of the following might Mark Tyrell agree to?
| A．British people are sincere while saying sorry. |
| B．Now more British people say sorry because of the British class system. |
| C．British people say sorry to avoid quarrels. |
| D．British people apologize for not working hard. |
What does the author want to tell us with the passage?
| A．British people overuse “sorry” in daily life. |
| B．British people now say “sorry” in different situations. |
| C．Middle classes in British are to blame for not being working class. |
| D．Britons say “sorry” to avoid confrontation. |
What does the underlined word “collision” in the first paragraph mean?
| A．quarrel | B．disagreement | C．crash | D．fight |
Where do the turtles go?
Every summer, thousands of endangered green sea turtles climb onto beaches around the world. Each mother sea turtle produces 100 or more eggs in a hole, and covers the hole with sand before she swims away.
Two months later, the eggs hatch(孵化), and the baby turtles climb out of the sand and swim into the ocean. They don’t reappear until they have grown as large as dinner plates. Until now, no one knows where the baby turtles go or what they do.
“if we don’t know where these little turtles are, we can’t protect them,” says Kim Reich, who helps solve part of the mystery.
Her teacher, Karen Bjorndal, has studied green sea turtles for more than 30 years. Every year, Bjorndal goes to the Bahamas Islands. Many young sea turtles come here to live and eat at the end of their childhood.
These turtles are the only sea turtles that live as plant eaters. In fact, their name may be a result of what they eat. The turtles don’t look green but they do have green fat. Scientists learned that the turtles eat green sea plants, which may turn their fat green.
Between 2002 and 2004, Bjorndal caught 44 green sea turtles in the Bahamas. After testing them, she found something to support the 20-year-old idea: baby green sea turtles eat meat before they turn to a diet of plants. In fact, they eat animals that live in the open ocean.
Scientists still need to find where exactly green sea turtles grow. We now know that baby green sea turtles are out in the open ocean, but the open ocean is a big place.
“It is really a problem,” says Bjorndal. The discovery may help us do a better job of protecting this sea animal.What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?
| A．baby turtles go to the ocean when they are two months old. |
| B．Mother turtles leave the eggs alone after they produce them. |
| C．No one knows when turtles appear on the beach. |
| D．Mother turtles are as large as dinner plates. |
Kim Reich does research on where baby turtles go because she wants to _________.
| A．help her teacher | B．prove an idea |
| C．protect turtles | D．become a scientist |
What does Karen Bjorndal’s research prove about green sea turtles?
| A．the young live in the Bahamas Islands. |
| B．The young eat meat before turning to a diet of plants |
| C．They live in the open ocean for a lifelong time |
| D．They are the only sea turtles that live as plant eaters. |
What does the underlined word “It” in the last paragraph refer to?
| A．Finding out where young turtles grow. |
| B．Protecting this endangered sea animal. |
| C．Changing young turtles’ eating habits. |
| D．Living in the open ocean. |
I hate nosy (爱管闲事的) neighbors and it’s very unlucky that I had one for myself. They moved in a couple of months back and although I never felt that they were a strange family, I’ve always hated the way they get “too close” to me, my house, my garden, and even my garbage cans.
One day, my neighbors were mowing their lawn (草坪). My garbage cans were near their lawn. For some strange reason, I found the wife looking through my garbage cans. I felt angry but since they were from a different culture, I thought that maybe it was “normal” from their ideas.
That afternoon, the couple knocked on my front door. When I opened, they gave me a plastic bag. Inside were my old daily bills, credit cards and bank statements, and an old birthday card that my old uncle sent. They said that they were returning them to me because these documents contained very private information that may be used by others.
I’ve heard of it before. I asked them how those documents can be used by others and they started telling me their very own experience, which forced them to leave their home and move next door to us. The wife told me that she never destroyed the bills. They also had a “nosy neighbor” who looked through their garbage cans which they actually thought was pretty strange. Little did they know that this “nosy neighbor” was collecting their personal information from their rubbish. Then all their money was taken out from the bank by their neighbor.
It was a very painful experience for all of them and they wanted to leave it all behind so they left. I was very thankful. They were not nosy neighbors. They simply didn’t want us to experience the same thing that they did.What made the author angry?
| A．His neighbor’s wife was looking through his rubbish. |
| B．His neighbors were mowing their lawn one morning. |
| C．His neighbors got too close to his own home. |
| D．His neighbors came to knock at his door at night. |
Why did the couple come to the author’s home?
| A．To introduce themselves to the author. |
| B．To get to know each other better. |
| C．To return the documents to the author. |
| D．To borrow some money from the author. |
Which of the following can we infer from the last paragraph?
| A．The author was kind and helpful to the neighbors. |
| B．The neighbors had to move from place to place. |
| C．The neighbors didn’t have enough money. |
| D．The author changed his idea about his neighbors. |
Everybody in this world is different from one another．But do you know that understanding differences can help you better manage your money？
As we grow up，we gradually develop a set of our own values or beliefs．These are influenced by society，our family，the education we receive and so on．Once this value system is set up，it's not easy to change later in life．
Financial experts say that everyone also has their own belief of how to manage their finances．This is part of our value system and it has a great impact on the way we look after our money．
According to our different values，experts put us in three categories．They are：the ant，the cricket and the snail．
The ant-works first
Just like ants who work heart and soul in summer in order to store food for winter，these people don't care about enjoying the moment．They work very hard and save money they earn so that they can enjoy life when they get old and retire．The ant loves to save but they could make more out of their money if they were willing to invest in some funds and stocks with low risk．
The cricket-fun first
The cricket wants to enjoy everything now and doesn't think too much about the future．They even borrow money when they really want something．Many young people now belong to this group．These people have little savings．When they get old，they might have problems．They should learn to save and buy insurance．
The snail-lives under pressure
The snail refers to people who make life difficult for themselves．They take big long-term loans from the bank in order to buy things such as luxury houses．They are happy to take big loans even though they are not sure whether they can afford it．This can cause problems in the future．They should plan more carefully．People with the character of the snail would like to __________．
| A．enjoy life at the moment without thinking much about the future |
| B．put work before everything else |
| C．live a luxury life at all costs |
| D．take the risk of investing a large sum of money |
Our beliefs and values are affected by the following except __________．
| A．society | B．our family | C．education | D．money |
This passage mainly talks about __________．
| A．the spending nature of people |
| B．the relation between man and insects |
| C．the insects in nature |
| D．the problems with dealing with money |
Which of the following has the character that the author prefers？
| A．The ant | B．The cricket |
| C．The snail | D．None of the above |
A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months．
The system，called driver Alert，aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%—40% that are caused by tiredness．Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue．
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband．The device，worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey．After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel(方向盘)．A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response．
Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time．Usually，a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond，but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds，it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy．
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds，showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest．If the driver’s response continues to slow down，the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warms that the driver must stop as soon as possible．
The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing．If these tests，scheduled for six months’ time，are successful，the markers will bring the product to market within about a year．According to the text，Driver Alert ______．
| A．aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents |
| B．has gone through testing at laboratories |
| C．aims to prevent drivers from sleeping |
| D．has been on sale for 12 months |
How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert？
| A．By sounding a warning |
| B．By touching the wristband |
| C．By checking the driving time |
| D．By pressing the steering wheel |
We can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is ______．
| A．About 400 milliseconds |
| B．below 500 milliseconds |
| C．over 500 milliseconds |
| D．about 400 minutes |
When the driver gets sleepy while driving，Driver Alert ______．
| A．moves more regularly |
| B．stops working properly |
| C．opens the window for the driver |
| D．sounds more frequently and loudly |
I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards from the job．I also think my work is important．There was a time when I thought I would never have that sort of career（职业）．
I wasn’t an excellent student because I didn’t do much schoolwork．In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn’t have much to offer．I just accepted that I wasn’t the type to have a career．
I then found myself a job．Looking after two little girls，It wasn’t too bad at first．But the problems began when I agreed to live in，so that I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the evening．We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week，she’d give me time off the next．But unfortunately，it didn’t often work out．I was getting extremely tired and fed up，because I had too many late nights and early mornings with the children．
One Sunday，I was in the park with the children，and met Megan who used to go to school with me，I told her about my situation．She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification（资格证书）if I wanted to work with children．I didn’t think I would be accepted because I didn’t take many exams in school．She persuaded me to phone the local college and they were really helpful．My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part – time course．I had to leave my job with the family，and got work helping out at a kindergarten．
Now I’ve got a full – time job there．I shall always be thankful to Megan．I wish I had known earlier that you could have a career，even if you aren’t top of the class at school．What is the author’s present job？
| A．Working part – time in a college． |
| B．Taking care of children for a family． |
| C．Helping children with their schoolwork． |
| D．Looking after children at a kindergarten． |
When staying with the two girls’family，the author__________．
| A．was paid for extra work |
| B．often worked long hours |
| C．got much help from her boss |
| D．took a day off every other week |
Why did the author leave her first job？
| A．She found a full – time job． |
| B．She was fed up with children． |
| C．She decided to attend a part – time course． |
| D．She needed a rest after working extra hours． |
What has the author learned from her own experiences？
| A．Less successful students can still have a career． |
| B．Qualifications are necessary for a career． |
| C．Hard work makes an excellent student． |
| D．One must choose the job she likes． |