For over one hundred and fifty years, Americans of all social classes have worn blue jeans. Whether they are worn for work or for fashion today, Strauss’ invention continues to be popular not only among Americans but also among people around the world.
Levi Strauss was born in Germany in 1829. He grew up in Kentucky before moving to New York in 1847. Before becoming an American citizen and moving to the West in 1853, Strauss worked in his brother’s dry goods business. This gave him a chance to produce his famous invention. After the gold rush of 1849, Strauss decided to move to the West to seek his fortune.
Strauss did not want to be a person who searched an area for minerals. Instead, he knew he could make a good living by selling supplies to the miners. At first, he planned to sell sewing supplies and cloth. When he heard miners complaining that their clothes were easily broken or they usually tore their pockets during mining, he decided to use a special fabric to make pants for the miners. These pants proved so popular that he quickly ran out of materials to make more.
In 1873, Strauss received a letter from a Jewish tailor named Jacob Davis who had invented a process of connecting pockets with copper rivets(铆钉). This made the pants last a long time. Because Davis did not have the money to patent his idea, he offered to share it with Strauss if Strauss would agree to pay for the patent.
By the time Strauss died in 1902, he had made a great contribution to American fashion.
The business has been growing ever since and Levi Strauss' company is now one of the largest clothing companies in the world.
| A．As a young boy, he moved with his family to the United States. |
| B．Nobody knew what kind of material was suitable. |
| C．He did and Levi jeans have been made with metal rivets ever since. |
| D．However, he did not get much business for those products. |
E. He also made a great contribution to America's clothing industry.
F. Since they were invented by Levi Strauss, they have become a symbol of American consumer culture.
G. As the business grew, Strauss got much money from it.
The Friday after the American holiday of Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. It’s said that it’s the day that store ledgers(分类账)move into the black and companies become profitable（有利可图的，有益的）.On that day, retailers（零售商）slash prices to get consumers to buy. It is also a time when many Americans start their Christmas shopping. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee tells us how the economy may affect consumers on that bargain day.
“It’s just the deals, the sales and everything you can get for a lesser（较少的，较小的）price,” said Sandy Thomas, a shopper. But it’s a nightmare（噩梦）for others. “I think it’s crazy. I’ve done all of my shopping throughout the week so I don’t have to go out on Friday,” she said. It’s called Black Friday, the start of the traditional Christmas shopping season in the United States. Every year it’s the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. Stores open before sunrise and there are deep discounts everywhere you look.
While the lead up to Christmas is known as the season of giving, Black Friday can get ugly.
Last year a crowd of bargain-hunters killed a Wal-mart（沃尔玛公司）worker in a New York suburb. This year, many stores are increasing security while they slash prices. “This is a huge time for the retail stores,” said Fred Joutz from George Washington University. “This is when they begin making their profits for the year.”
Economics professor Fred Joutz says how Americans spend the weekend after Thanksgiving is a good indication of how consumers feel about the future.
With the unemployment rate above 10 percent, Joutz says Americans are saving more and spending less. “Credit is still strictly controlled whether through credit cards or through borrowing from banks,” he said. Some retailers are attracting consumers by opening on Thanksgiving Day, when shops are traditionally closed. Other stores open their doors anywhere from midnight to four in the morning.
And shoppers will be lining up in front of the doors in order to be one of the first ones to walk through and get a big discount. Electronics like flat screen TVs are usually the first items to go. Sandy Thomas says it’s an annual family tradition and well worth it. “I just save maybe half of what I would have spent on a regular, you know, shopping trip,” she said.
Economists say U.S. consumers will spend money this Black Friday, but they will spend it more carefully. The underlined word “slash” in the first paragraph probably means _________.
| A．reduce | B．raise | C．increase | D．change |
The sentence “This day should be a shopper’s dream.” should be placed between ________.
| A．paragraph two and paragraph three | B．paragraph one and paragraph two |
| C．paragraph three and paragraph four | D．paragraph five and paragraph six |
Why are many stores increasing security according to the passage?
| A．Because there are too many people saving more and spending less. |
| B．Because it’s a time when they begin making their profits for the year. |
| C．Because last year a crowd of bargain-hunters caused an accident. |
| D．Because many stores open their doors from midnight to four a.m. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Christmas shopping is traditional time and this year it is no exception. |
| B．Electronics like flat screen TVs are usually least discounted. |
| C．The economy only affects consumers on that bargain day. |
| D．Thanksgiving is a good indication of how consumers feel about the future. |
Have you got any wonderful plans for your coming winter vacation? Here are some wonderful films for you to kill time.
Away We Go With a baby on his way, a young couple, Burt and Verona, look at their lives and are puzzled about what they really want. So they hit the road and seek a place to call home.On their journey, they visit a handful of characters and learned a lot. It’s about taking the scenic route in life, preparing for the hope and excitement and fear of new beginnings, while never forgetting to look out of the window. |
Orphan Easther, a bright and well-behaved child, however, is not as innocent as she appears. Soon after being taken home, the peace of her adoptive family is completely changed…You want a good horror film about a child from hell? Then you got one! Do not, in any cases, take children to see it. |
500 Days of Summer Tom is in love with Summer from the moment he sees her. Can he accept that she simply likes him for now, not for forever? The movie is about Tom wrestling with that reality. Tom remembers his love, Summer, as a series of joys and bafflements(阻碍,迷惑). But Summer is just herself and he cannot have her. Here is a rare movie that begins by telling us how it will end and is about how the hero has no idea why. |
2012 The director Roland Emmerich successfully dresses a corny story with an old Mayan prediction, which is believed by many to happen in the coming 2012 and as a result, attracts millions of people into the cinema. It’s just an entertaining Hollywood blockbuster(大片) with plenty of jokes, instead of a description of what the end of the world is really like. Don’t take it too seriously! |
This passage aims to __________.
| A．make comments on films for a cinema | B．introduce films for a film corporation |
| C．recommend several films for fun | D．advertise several films for a website |
If you bring your seven-year-old sister to the cinema, which of the following film should you avoid?
| A．Away We Go. | B．Orphan. | C．2012. | D．500 Days of Summer. |
Among all the characters mentioned in the passage, who directed films in Hollywood?
| A．Roland Emmerich. | B．Tom and Summer. | C．Burt and Verona. | D．Esther. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Orphan is a comedy about Esther adopted by a kind family. |
| B．500 Days of Summer is a romance with a happy ending. |
| C．Away We Go shows beautiful scenery on the young couple’s journey. |
| D．The ancient Mayan prediction is going to happen in 2012. |
Although many Chinese students say that their knowledge of English grammar is good ,most would admit that their spoken English is poor .Whenever I speak to a Chinese student they always say, “My spoken English is poor.” However ,their spoken English does not have to remain “poor” ! I would like to suggest that there may be some reasons for their problems with spoken English.
First, they fail to find suitable words to express themselves due to a limited vocabulary .
Obviously the better answer is to expand their vocabulary. However ,you can speak with a limited vocabulary, if your attitude is positive .Others will follow you as long as you use the words that you know.
Second ,they are afraid of making mistakes. Sometimes they make mistakes when they are speaking because they are shy and nervous .Yet students should remember that their goal should be FLUENCY NOT ACCURACY. Your aim in writing is to be accurate following the rules for grammar and using the right words and spelling them correctly .However ,in speaking your aim is fluency. You want to get your message across ,to talk to someone in English ,as quickly and as well as you can ,even though sometimes you may use a wrong word or tense ,but it doesn’t matter because the person you are speaking to will understand you and make allowances（留出余地，体谅）for any mistakes he hears.
The third reason is that not enough attention is paid to listening .You have one mouth but two ears! All that hearing was necessary for you to start speaking.
Fourth ,most Chinese students are reactive rather than proactive language learners .Instead of actively seeking out opportunities to improve their spoken English they passively wait for speaking opportunities to come to them and wonder why their English always remains poor .If you have this proactive outlook ,then you will see English opportunities wherever you go.
If you do not use your English beyond the classroom you will forget what English you know .Remember: USE IT OR LOSE IT! You can learn how to speak English better by speaking English more.What is most probably the writer’s purpose in writing the passage?
| A．To improve your reading. | B．To improve your spoken English. |
| C．To improve your listening. | D．To improve your vocabulary. |
It can be inferred from the third paragraph that .
| A．don’t be afraid of making mistakes .Just speak! |
| B．don’t be nervous ,don’t be shy .Just write! |
| C．don’t be fluency .Just be accuracy |
| D．don’t be shy ,don’t be fluency. Just listen and write! |
The text is most probably taken from a .
| A．teacher’s diary | B．report on study |
| C．sports newspaper | D．movie magazine |
Most schools forbid chewing gum, but in a few years they might consider changing that rule. Why? Scientists are finding evidence that gum chewing may be good for your health. It may even help improve your test scores.
This exciting research is just beginning. And in the meantime, companies are also experimenting with adding vitamins, minerals, medicines, and other subst
ances that could give g
um the power to cure headaches and fight everything from serious diseases to bad breath.
Other researchers are finding that gum might work better than a pill to deliver medicines and other substances into the bloodstream. That’s because the lining (膜) of our cheeks can absorb certain substances more quickly than our stomachs and intestines (肠) can.
That discovery could help other researchers develop medicine-containing gums that fight colds, ease headaches, battle nervousness, and more. Scientists might even create antimicrobi
al (抗菌的) gums that cure bad breath.
Those projects may take years, but gum scientists have already had at least one recent success: They’ve created a gum that could help us stay awake.
Researchers have produced a gum called Stay Alert. Each stick has as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. It can take an hour for the caffeine in coffee to have its full effect, but the caffeine in Stay Alert hits in just a few 
minutes.
The gum is easy to transport and it’s stable in cold and hot climates. Unlike a pill, it doesn’t require water to swallow. Those qualities make it easy for soldiers to use.
For now, Stay Alert is available only to the military (军队). The manufacturer may one day offer it for sale to the public. People who work at night, such as truck drivers and medical personnel who ride in ambulances, might benefit from a product like Stay Alert.The passage mainly talks about _____.
| A．the rule of forbidding chewing gum in school |
| B．new research on chewing gum |
| C．different kinds of chewing gum |
| D．the relationship between chewing gum and medicine |
What does the underlined word “hits” i
n Paragraph 6 probably mean?
| A．Touches. | B．Attacks. | C．Takes effect. | D．Affects badly. |
According to the passage, Stay Alert is a gum which can help people _____.
| A．stay awake | B．fight colds |
| C．cure headaches | D．overcome nervousness |
It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
| A．stay Alert is not easy to store |
| B．stay Alert needs water to swallow |
| C．stay Alert is available to the public now |
D．we can’t buy gums tha t cure bad breath now |
The $11 billion self-help industry is built on the idea that you should turn negative thoughts like “I never do anything right” into positive ones 
like “I can succeed.” But was positive thinking advocate Norman Vincent Peale right? Is there power in positive thinking?
Researchers in Canada just published a study in the journal Psychological Science that says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are.
The study’s authors, Joanne Wood and John Lee of the University of Waterloo and Elaine Perunovic of the University of New Brunswick, begin by citing older research showing that when people get feedback which they believe is very positive, they actually feel worse, not better. If you tell your stupid friend that he has the potential of an Einstein, you’re just underlining his faults. In one 1990s experiment, a team including psychologist Joel Cooper of Princeton asked participants to write essays opposing funding for the disabled. When the essayists were later praised for their sympathy, they felt even worse about what they had written.
In this experiment, Wood, Lee and Perunovic measured 68 students’ self-esteem. The participants were then asked to write down their thoughts and feelings for four minutes. Every 15 seconds, one group of students heard a bell. When it rang, they were supposed to tell themselves, “I am lovable.”
Those with low self-esteem didn’t feel better after the forced self-affirmation. In fact, their moods turned significantly darker than those of members of the control group, who weren’t urged to think positive thoughts.
The paper provides support for newer forms of psychotherapy (心理治疗) that urge people to accept their negative thoughts and feelings rather than fight them. In the fighting, we not only often fail but can make things worse. Meditation techniques, in contrast, can teach people to put their shortcomings into a larger, more realistic perspective. Call it the power of negative thinking.What do we learn from the first paragraph about the self-help industry?
| A．It has produced positive results. |
| B．It is a highly profitable industry. |
| C．It is based on the concept of positive thinking. |
| D．It was established by Norman Vincent Peale. |
What does the word “underline” mean (Line 4, Para. 3)?
| A．point out | B．lay emphasis on | C．pay no attention to | D．take for granted |
Which of the following is TRUE about the Canadian researchers’ study?
| A．Encouraging positive thinking many do more good than harm. |
| B．Self-affirmation can bring a positive change to one’s mood. |
| C．There can be no simple therapy for psychological problems. |
| D．Forcing a person to think positive thoughts may lower their self-esteem. |
What do we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Meditation may prove to be a good form of psychotherapy. |
| B．People can avoid making mistakes through meditation. |
| C．Different people tend to have different ways of thinking. |
| D．The effects of positive thinking vary from person to person. |