Americans use many expressions with the word dog. People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well. They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food and medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression, to lead a dog's life, describes a person who has an unhappy life.
Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people dog-tired. And, the situation would be even worse if they became sick as a dog.
Still, people say every dog has its day. This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.
Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as meaner than a junkyard dog. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. But mean dogs are often used to guard this property. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. We say his bark is worse than his bite.
Dog expressions also are used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs. A person who lives an unhappy life can be described as “_______”.
| A．becoming sick as a dog | B．leading a dog’s life |
| C．living in a dog-eat-dog world | D．Working like a dog |
The underlined word “mean” in Paragraph 4 most probably means “_______”.
| A．violent | B．selfish | C．wild | D．Poor |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Everyone can be successful if he learns from the old. |
| B．It might be difficult for the young to learn new skills. |
| C．Junkyard dogs are careful in money arrangement. |
| D．Fierce persons aren’t so awful as their appearance sometimes. |
To support his idea, the author develops the text mainly by _______.
| A．listing reasons | B．using idioms |
| C．giving examples | D．Making comparisons |
There is one foreign product the Japanese are buying faster than others, and its popularity has caused an uneasy feeling among many Japanese.
That product is foreign words.
Gairaigo－words that come from outside -- have been part of the Japanese language for centuries. Mostly borrowed from English and Chinese, these terms are often changed into forms no longer understood by native speakers.
But in the last few years the trickle（涓涓细流）of foreign words has become a flood, and people fear the increasing use of foreign words is making it hard for the Japanese to understand each other and could lead to many people forgetting the good qualities of traditional（传统的）Japanese.
“The popularity of foreign words is part of the Japanese interest in anything new,” says university lecturer and writer Takashi Saito. “By using a foreign word you can make a subject seem new, which makes it easier for the media（媒体）to pick up.”
“Experts（专家）often study abroad and use English terms when they speak with people in their own fields. Those terms are then included in government white papers,” said Muturo Kai, president of the National Language Research Institute. “Foreign words find their way easily into announcements made to the general public, when they should really be explained in Japanese.”
Against the flow of new words, many Japanese are turning back to the study of their own language. Saito’s Japanese to Be Read Aloud is one of many language books that are now flying off booksellers’ shelves.
“We were expecting to sell the books to young people,” said the writer, “but it turns out they are more popular with the older generation, who seem uneasy about the future of Japanese.”
68．What advantages do foreign words have over traditional Japanese terms?
A．The ideas expressed in foreign words sound new.
B．Foreign words are best suited for announcements.
C．Foreign words make new subjects easier to understand.
D．The use of foreign words makes the media more popular.
69．In the opinion of Takashi Saito, Japanese people ________.
A．are good at learning foreign languages
B．are willing to learn about new things
C．trust the media
D．respect experts
70．Which of the following plays an important part in the spread of foreign words?
A．The media and government papers
B．Best-selling Japanese textbooks.
C．The interest of young Japanese.
D．Foreign products and experts.
71．The book Japanese to Be Read Aloud ______________.
A．sells very well in Japan
B．is supported by the government
C．is questioned by the old generation
D．causes misunderstanding among the readers
A child's birthday party doesn't have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun, according to Beth Anaclerio, an Evaston mother of two, ages 4 and 18 months.
"Having a party at home usually requires a lot of running around on the part of the parents, and often the birthday boy or girl gets lost in wild excitement. But it really doesn't have to be that way," said Anaclerio. Last summer, Anaclerio and her friend Jill Garlisle, a Northbrook mother of a 2-year-old, founded a home party-planning business called "A Party in a Basket." Their goal is to help parents and children share in the fun part of party planning, like choosing the subject or making a cake, while they take care of everything.
Drawing on their experiences as mothers, they have created（制作）10 ready-to-use, home party packages. Everything a family needs to plan a party, except the cake and ice cream, is delivered to the home in a large basket.
"Our parties are aimed for children 2 to 10."Anaclerio said, "and they're very interactive（互动）and creative in that they build a sense of drama based on a subject. For example, at the Soda Shoppe party the guests become waiters and waitresses and build wonderful ice cream creations."
The standard ＄200 package for eight children includes a basket filled with invitations, gifts, games and prizes, paper goods, a party planner and the like. For more information, call Anaclerio at 708-864-6584 or Carlisle at 708-205-9141.
72. The main purpose of writing this text is ____.
A. to share information about party planning
B. to introduce the joys of a birthday party
C. to announce a business plan
D. to sell a service
73. The most important idea behind the kind of party planning described here is that ____.
A. it brings parents and children closer together
B. guests play a part in the preparation of a party
C. parents are spared the trouble of sending invitations
D. it provides a subject of conversation
74. What does the underlined word "hassle"（Paragraph 1） probably mean？
A. a party designed by specialists
B. a plan requiring careful thought
C. a situation causing difficulty or trouble
D. a demand made by guests
75. Which of the following is most likely to be a party planner？
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Betty and Harold have been married for years. But one thing still puzzles（困扰） old Harold.
How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa, talking, go out to a ballgame, come back three and a half hours later, and they're still sitting on the sofa? Talking?
What in the world, Harold wonders, do they have to talk about?
Betty shrugs. Talk? We're friends.
Researching this matter called friendship, psychologist Lillian Rubin spent two years interviewing more than two hundred women and men. No matter what their age, their job, their sex, the results were completely clear: women have more friendships than men, and the difference in the content and the quality of those friendships is "marked and unmistakable."
More than two-thirds of the single men Rubin interviewed could not name a best friend. Those who could were likely to name a woman. Yet three-quarters of the single women had no problem naming a best friend, and almost always it was a woman. More married men than women named their wife/husband as a best friend, most trusted person, or the one they would turn to in time of emotional distress （感情危机）. "Most women," says Rubin, "identified（认定） at least one, usually more, trusted friends to whom they could turn in a troubled moment, and they spoke openly about the importance of these relationships in their lives."
"In general," writes Rubin in her new book, "women's friendships with each other rest on shared emotions and support, but men's relationships are marked by shared activities." For the most part, Rubin says, interactions （交往） between men are emotionally controlled -a good fit with the social requirements of "manly behavior."
"Even when a man is said to be a best friend," Rubin writes, "the two share little about their innermost feelings. Whereas a woman's closest female friend might be the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage, it wasn't unusual to hear a man say he didn't know his friend's marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared one night asking if he could sleep on the sofa."
71. What old Harold cannot understand or explain is the fact that ______.
A. he is treated as an outsider rather than a husband B. women have so much to share
C. women show little interest in ballgames D. he finds his wife difficult to talk to
72. Rubin's study shows that for emotional support a married woman is more likely to turn to ______.
A. a male friend B. a female friend C. her parents D. her husband
73. According to the text, which type of behavior is NOT expected of a man by society?
A. Ending his marriage without good reason.
B. Spending too much time with his friends.
C. Complaining about his marriage trouble.
D. Going out to ballgames too often.
74. Which of the following statements is best supported by the last paragraph?
A. Men keep their innermost feelings to themselves.
B. Women are more serious than men about marriage.
C. Men often take sudden action to end their marriage.
D. Women depend on others in making decisions.
75. The research done by psychologist Rubin centers around _____.
A. happy and successful marriages B. friendships of men and women
C. emotional problems in marriage D. interactions between men and women
In the course of working my way through school, I took many jobs I would rather forget. But none of these jobs was as dreadful as my job in an apple plant. The work was hard; the pay was poor; and, most of all, the working conditions were terrible.
First of all, the job made huge demands on my strength. For then hours a night, I took boxes that rolled down a metal track and piled them onto a truck. Each box contained twelve heavy bottles of apple juice. I once figured out that I was lifting an average of twelve tons of apple juice every night.
I would not have minded the difficulty of the work so much if the pay had not been so poor. I was paid the lowest wage of that time—two dollars an hour. Because of the low pay, I felt eager to get as much as possible. I usually worked twelve hours a night but did not take home much more than $ 100 a week.
But even more than the low pay, what made me unhappy was the working conditions. During work I was limited to two ten-minute breaks and an unpaid half hour for lunch. Most of my time was spent outside loading trucks with those heavy boxes in near-zero-degree temperatures. The steel floors of the trucks were like ice, which made my feet feel like stone. And after the production line shut down at night and most people left, I had to spend two hours alone cleaning the floor.
I stayed on the job for five months, all the while hating the difficulty of the work, the poor money, and the conditions under which I worked. By the time I left, I was determined never to go back there again.
49. Why did the writer have to take many jobs at that time?
A. To pay for his schooling.
B. To save for his future.
C. To support his family
D. To gain some experience
50. The following facts describe the terrible working conditions of the plant EXCEPT ______.
A. loading boxes in the freezing cold B. having limited time for breaks
C. working and studying at the same time D. getting no pay for lunch time
51. What is the subject discussed in the text?
A. The writer’s unhappy school life. B. The writer’s eagerness to earn money.
C. The writer’s experience to earn money. D. The writer’s hard work in an apple plant.
52. How is the text organized?
A. Topic—Argument—Explanation
B. Opinion—Discussion—Description
C. Main idea—Comparison—Supporting examples
D. Introduction—Supporting examples—Conclusion
PEOPLE
NOBLE SMUGGLER
This Thursday, Irena Sendler will be honoured for her work as a smuggler（偷运者）. During World WarⅡ, the Polish social worker smuggled nearly2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto（聚居区）. She gave them new identities, found them safe places with good-hearted Christians, and kept the children’s real names buried in jars in her neighbours’ gardens.（The play, Life in a Jar, based on her story, is being performed.）At 93, Sendler lives in a Warsaw nursing home and is too weak to travel to Washington D.C., to receive the 2003 Jan Karski Award for Valorand Compassion from the American Center of Polish Culture. One of the children she saved will accept the award for her.
You risked your life to save the children.
I was taught by my father that when someone is drowning, you don’t ask if they can swim，you just jump in and help. During the war, everyone was drowning, but mostly the Jewish children.
How did you persuade parents to give up their children？
I had to answer honestly that I didn’t even know if we would get past the guards.
What was the most frightening moment？
When I saw a priest（牧师）in charge of an orphan age for Jewish children in the ghetto walk with them out to be killed. The children were in then best Sunday suits. The priest was killed with them.
How did you get the children to be have as you smuggled them out？
I told the older children to act as if they were sick and sometimes gave the younger ones a sleeping pill. They were told to remember their new names. I also told the children to tell guards they had only been visiting a servant in the ghetto and were going back to their real homes outside.
Did you tell your own two children what you did？
I never told them. Only when my daughter went to Israel did she learn all about me. I thought it was only normal to do so. And it was a very painful subject. It was always on my mind that I couldn’t do more.
——Samantha Levine
1. We can learn from the passage that Irena Sendler____.
A. will go to Washington to accept the award with her daughter
B. was caught a few times while she was rescuing the Jewish children
C. told those parents that their children’s lives would be guaranteed
D. saved thousands of Jewish children at the risk of her ownlife
2. The expression “everyone was drowning” can best be replaced by“______”.
A. everyone was involved in the war
B. all the people were drowned
C. people were facing danger and death
D. Jewish children were being killed
3. Which of the following could NOT be expected when Sendler was smuggling the Jewish children？
A. Some children were told to pretend to be sick in front of the guards.
B. Some children pretended to be returning home after visiting servants in the ghetto.
C. The children were asked to remember and use new names instead of real ones.
D. The children pretended to be brothers and sisters from one big family.
4. Sendler didn’t tell her own children what she did in the war because ______.
A. she thought it was the most frightening experience
B. the topic was too painful and heart-breaking to mention
C. it was already recorded and made known to the public
D. she planned to bury the secret in her heart until her death