Like many lovers of books, Mary and her husband, Richard Goldman, seldom walked past a bookstore without stopping to look inside. They often talked of opening their own store one day.
When Mary was in hospital with heart trouble in 1989, they decided it was time to get serious. Richard, who worked for a business company, wanted to work for himself, and Mary needed to slow down from her job.
They started by talking to bookstore owners and researching(调查) the industry. “We knew it had to be a specialty store because we couldn’t match the big chains dollar for dollar,” says Mary. One figure caught her attention: She’d read somewhere that roughly 20 percent of books sold were mysteries(推理小说), and many buyers spent more than $300 a year on books. She and Richard were themselves mystery readers.
On Halloween 1992, they opened the Mystery Lovers Bookshop and Café near their home. With three children in college, the couple could not spend all the family’s money to start a shop. To cover the whole $ 100, 000 cost, they drew some of their savings, borrowed from relatives and from a bank.
The store broke even in its first year, with only $ 120,000 in sales. But Mary was always coming up with new ways to attract customers. The shop had a coffee bar and it offered gifts to mystery lovers and served dinners for book clubs that met in the store. She also invited dozens of writers to discuss their stories.
Today Mystery Lovers makes sales of about $ 420,000 a year. After paying taxes, business costs and the six part-time sales clerks, Richard and Mary together earn about $ 34,000.
“The job you love may not go hand in hand with a million-dollar income,” says Richard. “This has always been about an enjoyable life for ourselves, not about making a lot of money.” After Mary got well from her illness they began _________.
| A．to study industrial management (工业管理) |
| B．to buy and read more mystery books |
| C．to do market research on book business |
| D．to work harder to save money for the bookstore |
How did their bookstore do in the first year?
| A．They had to borrow money to keep it going. |
| B．They made just enough to cover all the costs. |
| C．They succeeded in earning a lot of money. |
| D．They failed though they worked hard. |
According to Richard, the main purpose(目的) of running the bookstore is _________.
| A．to pay for children’s education |
| B．to get to know more writers |
| C．to set up more bookstores |
| D．to do what they like to do |
(改编) Dream culture is an important part of ancient Chinese culture. Dream interpreting（理解）is popular in China, and the most famous reference for dream interpreting is the book of Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams.
Ancient Chinese people thought that dreams could suggest lucky and unlucky things. Since different dreams have different meanings, people can get meanings of good or bad luck by interpreting them. Actually, dream interpreting is not totally a superstition. It does have some scientific value.
● Dreams are the reflection of the facts. Many dreams are actually something about what happened in the daytime. This kind of dream can be easily understood without dream interpreting.
● Dreams are the body’s self-implication (自我暗示). Traditional Chinese medical science says that dreams are connected with the health condition of humans’ bodies. When Yin and Yang are imbalanced, dreams come into being. If someone dreamt that he or she was roasted by a big fire, it shows he or she might easily get angry or nervous.
● Dreams are usually different from the facts. It means that things will develop in the opposite direction when they become worse.
To some degree, Duke of Zhou Interprets dreams is scientifically reasonable. Over thousands of years has passed, the book still has many secrets waiting for us to explore.
| A．the most famous reference for dream interpreting |
| B．an interesting story book |
| C．an action movie |
| D． a beautiful place |
| A．They are lucky |
| B．They are unlucky |
| C．They are unlucky or unlucky |
| D．They are superstitions |
| A．合理的 | B．负责人的 |
| C．正确的 | D．认真的 |
| A．money | B．secrets | C．time | D．position |
| A．There are no secrets in the book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams |
| B．If someone dreamt that he was roasted by a big fire, it shows he or she might get happy |
| C．Dream culture is an important part of modern Chinese culture |
| D．Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams is a book about dream interpreting. |
You can't always predict（预测）a heavy rain or remember your umbrella. But designer Belyaev doesn't think that forgetting to check the weather forecast before going out should cause you to get wet. That's why he created Lampbrella, a lamp post（柱）with its own rain－sensing（感应）umbrella.
The designer says he came up with the idea after watching people get wet on streets in Russia. “Once, I was driving on a central Saint Petersburg street and saw the street lamps lighting up people trying to hide from the rain. I thought it would be fit to have a canopy(伞篷) built into a street lamp，” he said.
The Lampbrella is a post－looking street lamp fitted with an umbrella canopy. It has a built－in electric machine which can open or close the umbrella. Sensors(传感器) then make sure that the umbrella offers walkers shelter（遮蔽） whenever it starts raining.
Besides the rain sensor, there's also a 360° moving sensor on the street lamp which finds whether anyone is using the Lampbrella. After three minutes of not being used the canopy is closed.
According to the designer, the Lampbrella would move at a rather low speed, in order not to hurt the walkers. Besides, it would be fixed on the ground to protect from possible lightning strike. Each Lampbrella would offer enough shelter for several people. Being fixed at 2 meters off the ground, it would only be a danger for the tallest of walkers.
While there are no plans to take the Lampbrella into production, Belyaev says he recently introduced his creation to one Moscow Department, and believes that his creation could be fixed on any street where a lot of people walk but there are no canopies to provide shelter.What does the underlined word “forecast” mean in Chinese?
A. 预报 B. 情况 C. 查询For what purpose did Belyaev create the Lampbrella?
A. To remind people to take an umbrella.
B. To check the weather forecast.
C. To protect people from the rain.Which of the following shows how the Lampbrella works?
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. His creation was inspired by an experience from Belyaev's words in Paragraph 2.
B. Paragraph 5 mainly tell us about the Lampbrella’s safety.
C. The Lampbrella will be put into immediate production.The best title for this passage should be _____.
A. THE USE OF THE LAMPBRELLA
B. HOW TO PREVENT RAIN
C. THE NEW INVENTION－LAMPBRELLA
（改编）We sometimes have to meet some difficulties that we never expect, but we should develop a positive attitude to life. Keeping a positive attitude isn't always easy, especially when we go through a difficult time in our life. However, we know, only when we take a positive attitude, can we overcome the difficulties.
On July 23rd, 1993, Wang Jiapeng lost his legs when his plane crashed. Wang was only 12 years old. He felt he was the unluckiest person in the world. When he saw students with their schoolbags on their backs, the sound of his wheelchair made him sick. Wang’s mother took him to a special hospital in Beijing. She looked after him in the daytime and worked at night to make money. But after two years, Wang was still not able to leave the hospital. Wang’s mother became too tired to go on and one day she herself became a hospital patient! One morning she woke up and saw her son holding breakfast for her. Wang’s trip to the food shop was his first time outside the hospital in two years. The five-minute walk took him thirty minutes.
But he was finally able to make an important decision. He didn’t care how other people looked at him. He had to learn to do things himself.
For the next few years, Wang taught himself all his middle school subjects in the hospital and five years after the accident, he won a chance to study in a college in Norway. Wang learned to drive, go rock climbing and ski. He even won two gold medals for skiing in an international skiing competition.
“You are what you think you are,” said Wang. “If you think you’re disabled, you are. If you don’t think so, you aren’t.”
So we know that if you can keep a positive attitude, even when things aren't going well in your life, you are the true winner of life.
根据短文内容判断正、误。（正确A，错误B）Wang Jiapeng, born 1981, lost his legs because of a plane crash at age 12.
According to Wang’s words , we should believe in ourselves.
Positive thinking benefited WangJiapeng and he became good at skating.
He finished the middle school by himself and got a chance to the college.
In order to look after him, his mother had to work at night and was ill at last.
（改编）A TRIP TO SINGAPORE
Child: Aged from 3 to 12
根据表格所提供的信息选择最佳答案。How do you get to Night Safari ?
A. by Subway
B. by bus
C. first by subway then by bus If John’s parents take him and his two younger sisters, one aged 5, the other aged 13, to Butterfly Park, how much will they pay?
A. $50B. $48 C. $46Mother and father go with their 5-year-old child to _________ with the most money.
A. Undersea World
B. Butterfly Park
C. Night SafariYou can visit _______ after 10:00 pm.
A. Underwater World
B. Night Safari
C. Butterfly ParkWhich of the following is TRUE according to the information above?
A. Undersea world opens for the longest time among all these four.
B. You take the bus on the Yellow Line to the zoo to see the dolphin.
C. Butterfly Park has the world’s largest collection of butterflies.
A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms (习语), though my teacher told us the importance again and again. But soon, the importance of English idioms was shown in an amusing experience.
One day, I happened to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be surprised. Gently shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders, he said，“You don’t say!” “You don’t say!” I was puzzled. I thought, perhaps this is not a right topic. “Well, I’d better change the topic.” So I said to him. “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? By the way, have you ever been there?” “Certainly, everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave China without seeing it. It was wonderful.” He was deep in thought when I began to talk like a tourist guide. “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. We are very proud of it.” Soon I was interrupted (打断) again by his words: “You don’t say!” I couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn’t ask you to do so,” he answered, greatly surprised. I said, “Didn’t you say ‘you don’t say’？” Hearing this, the Englishman laughed to tears. He began to explain, “ ‘You don’t say’ actually means ‘really!’ It is an expression of surprise. Perhaps you don’t pay attention to English idioms.” “_____” Since then I have been more careful with idiomatic expressions. Remember: what the English teachers said is always right to us students.What does the underlined word “amusing” probably means in this passage?
A. interestingB. importantC. amazing A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms because .
A. I had no interest in them
B. my teacher didn’t tell us the importance of them
C. I did not realize the importance of themAt first, on hearing “You don’t say,” I thought the foreigner meant .
A. I had talked too much
B. I had to stop talking
C. he was not interested in the topicWhich of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The Englishman left China without seeing the Great Wall.
B. The Englishman visited the Great Wall and thought it worth visiting.
C. The Englishman wanted to see the Great Wall after I talked about it.The sentence “_____” will be the missing one in this passage.
A. I realized I had made a fool of myself.
B. You had better pay more attention to it
C. I realized the Englishman made me a fool