President Barack Obama has complained about the loss of privacy that comes with being leader of the United States, regretting the loss of simple pleasures such as a long walk or a trip to the car wash or supermarket．
"I just miss - I miss being anonymous," he said"I miss Saturday morning, rolling out of bed, not shaving, getting into my car with my girls, driving to the supermarket, squeezing the fruit, getting my car washed, taking walks. I can't take a walk． "
His dream, he said, was to "go through Central Park and watch folks passing by．．．spend the day watching people --- I miss that"．
Faced with angry criticism for playing more golf than most previous occupants of the White House, he explained that the sport was simply the best way of getting away from it all． "It's the only excuse I have to get outside for four hours." he told Hearst magazines．
Though he said he enjoyed his life in the White House, he felt disappointed with some of the ways of Washington, which he has failed in his pledge to change, such as the "kabuki dance" （日本歌舞）among political parties before serious policy discussions begin． His comments may be seen as vindication （证实） by critics who have accused him of appearing too detached（漠然）, and being slow to engage in vital issues such as Libya and the near shutdown of the US government last week．
Since arriving at the White House in January 2009, Mr.Obama has already racked up （打）60 rounds of golf in office, more than George W Bush did in his eight years．
In terms of ability, Golf Digest magazine has ranked Mr.Obama eighth out of the 18 presidents who played the game since it became established in the early 20th century． What do the second paragraph and the third paragraph mainly tell us?
| A．Obama likes living a busy life． |
| B．Obama used to spend most of his time with his family． |
| C．Obama wishes to enjoy simple pleasures． |
| D．He used to wash his car himself． |
According to Obama, he plays golf to .
| A．release his pressure | B．keep fit |
| C．balance his work | D．show his ability |
We can infer from the passage that Obama is kabuki dance．
| A．curious about | B．interested in |
| C．content with | D．tired of |
Which of the following statements is from the critics?
| A．The president lost lots of privacy, but he loves the life in the White House |
| B．There are always unnecessary procedures among political parties． |
| C．The president seems to be indifferent towards some really important issues |
| D．The president is really a great golf player． |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Obama's favorite pastime． |
| B．Obama’s complaints about lack of privacy as president． |
| C．The public's criticism of Obama． |
| D．Obama’s regrets for being the U．S．president． |
Preface to the fourth edition
A practical English Grammar is intended for intermediate(中级的) and post-intermediate students. We hope that more advanced learners and teachers will also find it useful.
The book is a comprehensive survey of structures and forms, written in clear modern English and illustrated with numerous examples. Areas of particular difficulty have been given special attention. Differences between conversational usage and strict grammatical forms are shown but the emphasis is on conversational forms.
1. Explanation and examples have been brought up to date.
2. There is now more information on countable and uncountable nouns, attributive and predicative adjectives, adverbs of places, sentence adverbs, cleft sentences, prepositions, conjunctives, modal verbs, perfect tenses, infinitive constructions, the passive, purpose clauses and nouns.
In the fourth edition the main changes are as follows.
3. Some material has been rearranged to make comparisons easier. For example, parts of chapters on can, may, must etc. are now grouped by functions; verbs of liking and preference have a chapter to themselves; suggestions and invitations have joined the chapter on commands, requests and advice.
4. The contents list now summaries every edition heading, and there is a new index containing many more entries references.
In this edition the sign “～” is frequently used to show a change of speaker in examples of dialogue. Note also that although the sign “＝”sometimes connects two words or expressions with the same meaning, it is often used more freely, e.g. to indicate a transformation from active to passive or direct to indirect speech.
We wish to thank all at Oxford University Press who have assisted in the preparation of the fourth edition. We would also like to thank Professor Egawa of Nihon University, Japan, Professor Rene Dirven of Duisburg University, West Germany and other colleagues for their friendly and helpful suggestions.
London, November 1985 A.J.T., A.VMThe grammar book mentioned in this passage is not suitable for __________.
| A．a middle school teacher | B．a college student |
| C．a senior high student | D．a primary school student |
According to the passage, we know that this grammar book ___________.
| A．compares modern English with old English |
| B．gives a large number of examples to reduce difficulty |
| C．attaches more importance to conversational forms |
| D．pays little attention to strict grammatical forms |
Which of the following statements about the changes is TRUE?
| A．This book keeps up with the latest usages of the American English language. |
| B．This edition offers more information about pronouns. |
| C．One particular chapter discusses verbs like “care, like, love, hate, prefer, wish”. |
| D．It’s not easy for us to find the information we need in this book. |
When you see this line in the book, “Did you get a ticket? ～Yes, I managed to get one”, we can understand that _______.
| A．the two parts before and after the sign “～”mean the same. |
| B．the topic is changed in the part after the sign “～”. |
| C．the second speaker repeats what the first speaker says. |
| D．the two parts before and after “～”are said by two different people. |
The common Chinese greeting of “Ni chi le ma?” may soon be replaced by a new greeting: “Have you cleaned your plate?”
Over the Spring Festival holiday there was a big effort to get people to curb their habit of ordering too much food in restaurants because a lot of that food ended up being wasted. Holiday eaters were urged to “clean their plates” and were asked to take leftover food home in “doggy bags.”
The impetus behind the campaign was the startling government statistic that over 200 billion yuan is spent every year on food that ends up in the garbage bin. And in the midst of all this waste, statistics show that 128 million people are living below the poverty line and going hungry.
The “clean your plate” campaign is part of a worldwide effort to stop precious food from being wasted. The United Nations estimates that $1trillion (yes, that’s a very big number) worth of food is wasted each year. Most of that is lost during food production and transportation, but a significant percentage is attributed to waste by consumers. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has launched a campaign called “Think. Eat. Save.” to make people aware of the problem.
Chinese actress Fan Bingbing is an ambassador for UNEP and she encouraged people to upload pictures of their “clean plates” to show their support for the program. Thousands of people responded and demonstrated that they had a clear conscience to go along with their full stomachs.
Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, is also urging people to be less wasteful and he told Party members to cut back on extravagant holiday banquets and to be more careful when spending the people’s money.
For some, though, Xi Jinping’s and Fan Bingbing’s admonitions don’t go far enough. Yuan Longping, an agricultural scientist, caused a stir by saying that wasting food should be treated as a crime. (Jail time for leftover chicken feet!?)
If not a crime, wasting food is certainly a sin and it goes against what Xi Jinping calls, “the Chinese tradition of being diligent and thrifty.” Having a “clean plate” is just a traditional and responsible thing to do. Which statement is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Over 200 billion yuan is wasted every year on food around China. |
| B．It’s quite common for Chinese people to order more food than they need in restaurants. |
| C．It’s universally acknowledged that wasting food is a crime. |
| D．Fan did something to promote people’s awareness of saving food. |
The underlined word “admonition” is closest in meaning to “”.
| A．demonstration | B．indication | C．warning | D．criticism |
What’ the best title for the passage?
| A．Food is important. |
| B．Have you cleaned your plate? |
| C．Jail time for leftover chicken feet!? |
| D．Wasting food is a crime. |
It is 4 o’clock in the early morning. Everything but the computing room on the campus of the university appears as quiet and misty as the mysterious hell. In the computing room, 30 students with sleepy eyes, sit still at their desk, beating the dirty and worn keys. Staring at the colorful screen, they tap continuously for hours. For the other parts in the world, it might be in the middle of the night, nevertheless here time represents nothing. It is an entirely enclosed field. These young computer “hackers” are tracing a sort of stimulus (刺激), a drive so exciting and absorbing that it ignores nearly anything else in their lives and becomes the focus of their being. They are addicted (上瘾的) computer programmers. Some of these students have been glued to the console (电子设备的操纵台) for no less than twenty hours even with no break for meals or rest. Some have been sleeping on sofas and chairs in the computing room, trying to struggle for a few moments’ rest but hating to get too far away from their addicted machines.
It is not necessary for most of these students to be at the computing room in the middle of the night. What they are working belong to no assignments. They remain there because they desire to be — they can not resist the attraction of the computers.
Furthermore, they are in groups instead of being alone. There are hackers at computing rooms all over the country. In the unimaginable way, they focus on nothing but computer. They escape from schooling and live beyond friendship; they might have difficulty being employed, choosing to travel from one computing room to another. They may even give up personal health.
“There is one hacker in my memory. We actually had to lift him away from his chair to feed him and arrange him to rest and sleep. We truly worried about his health,” says a computing science professor at California University.
Professors of computer science are nowadays paying more attention to this hacker phenomenon and are on the watch for future hackers and more and more severe computer addicts. They believe firmly that hackers are not simply resulted from the close relationship with a machine. It is the result of social relationship with the attractive thinking machines, which are becoming nearly universal.
| A．students working on a program |
| B．students using computers to amuse themselves |
| C．hard-working computer science majors |
| D．students deeply fascinated by the computer |
| A．Most of them are top students majoring in computer programming. |
| B．For them, computer programming is the only purpose for their life. |
| C．They can stay with the computer at the computing room for nearly two days. |
| D．Their love for the computer is so deep that they want to be near their machines even when they sleep. |
| A．the hacker phenomenon exists only at university computing rooms |
| B．it is not very easy for the “hackers” to find friends or jobs |
| C．university computing rooms are expecting outstanding programmers out of the “hackers” |
| D．the hacker phenomenon is partly due to the lack of the computing rooms |
| A．positive | B．disgusting |
| C．worrying | D．admiring |
| A．The Charm of Computer Science | B．A New Type of Electronic Toys |
| C．Future Computer Programmers | D．Computer Addicts |
In a world with limited land, water and other natural resources, the harm from the traditional business model is on the rise. Actually, the past decades has seen more and more forests disappearing and globe becoming increasingly warm. People now realize that this unhealthy situation must be changed, and that we must be able to develop in sustainable (可持续的) ways. That means growth with low carbon or development of sustainable products. In other words, we should keep the earth healthy while using its supply of natural resources.
Today, sustainable development is a proper trend in many countries. According to a recent study, the global market for low carbon energy will become three times bigger over the next decades. China, for example, has set its mind on leading that market, hoping to seize chances in the new round of the global energy revolution. It is now trying hard to make full use of wind and solar energy, and is spending a huge amount of money making electric cars and high speed trains. In addition, we are also seeing great growth in the global markets for sustainable products such as palm oil， which is produced without cutting down valuable rainforest. In recent years the markets for sustainable products have grown by more than 50%.
Governments can fully develop the potential of these new markets. First, they can set high targets for reducing carbon emission (排放) and targets for saving and reusing energy. Besides, stronger arrangement of public resources like forests can also help to speed up the development. Finally, governments can avoid the huge expenses that are taking us in the wrong direction, and redirecting some of those expenses can accelerate (加速) the change from traditional model to a sustainable one.
The major challenge of this century is to find ways to meet the needs of growing population within the limits of this single planet. That is no small task, but it offers abundant new chances for sustainable product industries.
| A．it makes the world warmer |
| B．it consumes natural resources |
| C．it brings severe damage to forests |
| D．it makes growth hard to continue |
| A．China lacks wind and solar energy. |
| B．China is the leader of the low carbon market. |
| C．High speed trains are a low carbon development. |
| D．Palm oil is made at the cost of valuable forests. |
| A．cut public expenses | B．forbid carbon emission |
| C．develop public resources | D．encourage energy conservation |
| A．develop sustainable products |
| B．explore new natural resources |
| C．make full use of natural resources |
| D．deal with the major challenge |
| A．To introduce a new business model. |
| B．To compare two business models. |
| C．To predict a change of the global market. |
| D．To advocate (提倡) sustainable development. |
Dear Betty,
My roommate’s family wants me to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with them in their home. I accepted the invitation, and I’m excited about going, but I’m a little nervous about it, too. The social customs in my country are different from those here, so I’m a little worried about making mistakes.
Should I bring a gift, such as candy or flowers? Should I arrive on time or a little late? At the dinner table, how can I know which fork or knife to use? How can I let the family know that I’m thankful for their kindness?
Yours,
Knowing Nothing
Dear Knowing Nothing,
It’s a good idea to bring a gift when you go to a dinner party. Flowers are always welcome, or you can bring a bottle of wine if you know the family drink it.
You should arrive on time or five to ten minutes late. Don’t get there early. If you are going to be more than fifteen minutes late, you should call and tell them.
Try to relax at the dinner table. If you don’t know how to use the right fork, knife or spoon, just watch the other guests, and follow them. If you still have no idea of what to do, don’t be shy about asking the person next to you; it’s better to ask them than to be silently uncomfortable and nervous.
If you like the food, say so. Of course, you’ll thank the host and hostess for the meal and for their kindness. It’s also a good idea to send a card to thank them the day after.
Yours,
Betty
| A．tell Betty some good news | B．ask for some advice |
| C．answer some questions | D．invite her to dinner |
| A．can only bring some flowers |
| B．can’t bring wine |
| C．should arrive on time or five to ten minutes late |
| D．should arrive twenty minutes late |
| A．relax at the dinner table | B．watch the other guests |
| C．ask the person beside him | D．keep silent at table |