Some people will do just about anything to save money.And I am one of them.Take my family's last vacation.It was my six－year－old son's winter break from school，and we were heading home from Fort Lauderdale after a weeklong trip.The flight was overbooked，and Delta，the airline，offered us $400 per person in credits to give up our seats and leave the next day.I had meetings in New York，so I had to get back.But that didn't mean my husband and my son couldn't stay.I took my nine－month－old and took off for home.
The next day，my husband and son were offered more credits to take an even later flight.Yes，I encouraged—okay，ordered—them to wait it out at the airport to “earn” more Delta Dollars.Our total take：$1,600.Not bad，huh?
Now some people may think I'm a bad mother and not such a great wife either.But as a big－time bargain hunter，I know the value of a dollar.And these days，a good deal is something few of us can afford to pass up.
I've made a living looking for the best deals and exposing(揭露) the worst tricks.I have been the consumer reporter of NBC's Today show for over a decade.I have written a couple of books including one titled Tricks of the Trade：A Consumer Survival Guide.And I really do what I believe in.
I tell you this because there is no shame in getting your money's worth.I'm also tightfisted when it comes to shoes，clothes for my children，and expensive restaurants.But I wouldn't hesitate to spend on a good haircut.It keeps its shape longer，and it's the first thing people notice.And I will also spend on a classic piece of furniture.Quality lasts.Why did Delta give the author's family credits?
| A．They took a later flight. |
| B．They had early bookings. |
| C．Their flight had been delayed. |
| D．Their flight had been cancelled. |
What can we learn about the author?
| A．She rarely misses a good deal. |
| B．She seldom makes a compromise. |
| C．She is very strict with her children. |
| D．She is interested in cheap products. |
What does the author do?
| A．She's a teacher. |
| B．She's a housewife. |
| C．She's a media person. |
| D．She's a businesswoman. |
What does the author want to tell us?
| A．How to expose bad tricks. |
| B．How to reserve airline seats. |
| C．How to spend money wisely. |
| D．How to make a business deal. |
Directions: Read the following passage．Fill in the numbered blanks by using the information from the passage．Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer．
In a society such as the United States or Canada, which has many national, religious and cultural differences, people highly value individualism—the differences among people. Teachers place a lot of importance on the qualities that make each student special. The educational systems in these countries show these values. Students do not memorize information. Instead, they work on their own and find answers themselves. There is often a discussion in the classroom. At an early age, students learn to form their own ideas and opinions.
In most Asian societies, by contrast, people have the same language, history and culture. Perhaps for this reason, the educational system in these Asian countries reflects society’s belief in group goals and purposes rather than individualism. Children in China, Japan and Korea often work together and help one another on assignments.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both of these systems of education. For example, one advantage of the system in Japan is that students there learn much more maths and science than American students learn by the end of high school. They also study more hours each day and more days each year than North Americans do. The system is difficult, but it prepares students for a society that values discipline and self-control. There is, however, a disadvantage. Memorization is an important learning method in Japanese schools, but many students say that after an exam, they forget much of the information they have memorized.
The advantage of educational system in North America, on the other hand, is that students learn to think for themselves. The system prepares them for a society that values creative ideas. There is, however, a disadvantage. When students graduate from high school, they haven’t memorized as much basic rules as students in other countries have.
Title: A comparison of two different educational systems
| 71__________ |
Features of education |
72 __________ |
Disadvantage |
| The United States and Canada |
● 73__________ ●emphasizing qualit- -ies making each student special |
●learning to 74 ________ ●preparing them for a society valuing creative ideas |
75 ________ |
| Asian countries such as China, 76__________ |
● 77__________ in group goals and purposes |
●learning much more 78______ than American students do ●studying more hours each day and more days each year ●preparing students for a society valuing 79________ |
forgetting much of 80_______ |
About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table. I couldn’t help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked: “So, how have you been?” And the boy—who could not have been more than seven or eight years old—replied, “Frankly, I’ve been feeling a little depressed lately.”
This incident stuck in my mind because it confirmed my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were “depressed”, that is, in low sprits, until we were in high school.
Undoubtedly a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike anymore. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.
Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists. Why?
Human development is based not only on born biological states, but also on patterns of access to social knowledge. Movement from one social role to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new status. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages: traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.
In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation（揭示）machine has been installed in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information to all viewers alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more vivid moving pictures.
Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information to which children have access. Reading and writing involve a complex code of symbols that must be memorized and practiced. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.According to the author, feeling depressed is________.
| A．a sure sign of a mental problem in a child |
| B．a mental state present in all humans, including children |
| C．something that cannot be avoided in children’s mental development |
| D．something hardly to be expected in a young child |
Traditionally, a child is supposed to learn about the adult world________.
| A．through connection with society |
| B．gradually and under guidance |
| C．naturally without being taught |
| D．through watching television |
According to the author, that today’s children seem adultlike results from ________.
| A．the widespread influence of television |
| B．the poor arrangement of teaching content |
| C．the fast pace of human scientific development |
| D．the rising standard of living |
What does the author think of communication through print for children?
| A．It enables children to gain more social information. |
| B．It develops children’s interest in reading and writing. |
| C．It helps children to read and write well. |
| D．It can control what children are to learn. |
What does the author think of the change in today’s children?
| A．He feels their adultlike behavior is so funny |
| B．He thinks the change worthy of note. |
| C．He considers it a rapid development. |
| D．He seems to be upset about it. |
Japanese sailor Kenichi Horie has finished a 110-day solo (单独的) voyage across the Pacific Ocean in a boat pushed by sea waves to win another world first.
Weak waves and ocean water movements made his arrival late, which was going to be in late May.
“When waves were weak, the boat slowed down. That’s a problem that needs to be solved,” the adventure told reporters from his boat in western Japan. His 9.5-meter-long boat can move like a dolphin’s tail, and it rises or falls with the waves.
Horie reached his destination in the channel between the main Japanese islands just before midnight after covering about 7,000 kilometers from Hawaii.
Horie first made world record in 1962 when, at the age of 23, he became the first person to sail alone across the Pacific. He made the three-month voyage from his hometown in spite of breaking Japanese law, which did not allow his citizens to sail on their own out of the country, and without a passport or money.
He was arrested upon arrival in San Francisco but the city mayor freed him, gave him a 30-day visa and made him an honorary citizen. News of his achievement made him a hero back home in Japan and his book of the voyage In the Pacific was made into a film. Since then, he has completed many sailing trips across the Pacific and around the world.
After his latest adventure with an environmentally friendly theme, Horie planned to return to his hometown on Sunday. He said, “Throughout history, mankind has used wind for power, but no one has appeared to be serious about wave power.” Horie told the reporter, “I think I’m a lucky boy as this wave power system has remained untouched in fact.”Horie’s boat was mainly powered by ________.
| A．sea waves | B．sea winds | C．his strength | D．petrol |
From the passage we learn that ________.
| A．Horie undertook the voyage with a partner this time |
| B．it took Horie about twenty days more to cross the Pacific this time than in 1962 |
| C．Horie made his first voyage across the Pacific alone fifty years ago |
| D．Horie’s destination is 7,000 kilometers from San Francisco |
Horie was arrested in San Francisco after his voyage in 1962 mainly because ________.
| A．he had broken Japanese law |
| B．he had kept it a secret from others |
| C．his action had put people in danger |
| D．he had no passport to America |
Which of the following statements best proves that Horie’s latest voyage was meaningful?
| A．He was made an honorary citizen of San Francisco. |
| B．In Japan he was regarded as a hero. |
| C．His voyage had the theme of protecting the environment. |
| D．He wrote an exciting book after the voyage. |
The author wrote the article mainly to ________.
| A．start an ocean crossing movement |
| B．tell us a piece of interesting news |
| C．make Horie known to the world |
| D．encourage people to learn from Horie |
Time out
Cover Price: ￡2.35
Save up to 42%
Time out — London’s arts and entertainment weekly. This magazine offers the best listings and reviews of arts, music, films and nightlife, and it is a necessary guide to the entertainment capital of the world. If you’re not using Time out, you’re losing out on London.
School Sport Magazine
Cover Price: ￡4.40
School Sport Magazine is the only publication of its kind to celebrate the sporting achievements of schools, pupils and teachers in the UK. The purpose of the magazine is to report sporting news and record national and regional school sporting events as well as interviews with famous sport stars about their own sporting schooldays. Five issues (期) a year.
Time
Cover Price: ￡2.70
Save up to 76%
Every week, Time keeps you well informed of world news, covering all the matters that affect your life, from political struggles to scientific progress, environmental problems, and what’s new in business, fashion and arts. Its feature articles give you brief but true information and unique insights from world-leading journalists. Time is a great magazine, which can help you develop a truly global perspective.
FourFourTwo
Cover Price: ￡3.90
Save up to 25%
FourFourTwo is a monthly football magazine for grown-up readers. Feature articles and wonderful action photographs will keep you attracted. You can read interviews with big name football stars, from today, tomorrow and yesterday. You’ll love it!Among all of the above, there is/ are ________ weekly magazine(s).
| A．one | B．two | C．three | D．four |
Which of the following magazines will probably provide you with articles about paintings and their painters?
| A．Time Out & School Sport Magazine. |
| B．School Sport Magazine & FourFourTwo. |
| C．Time Out & Time. |
| D．only Time. |
Which of the following magazines is suitable for a 13-year-old boy who wants to know about a famous football star’s playing experiences at school?
| A．Time Out. |
| B．School Sport Magazine. |
| C．Time |
| D．School Sport Magazine or FourFourTwo. |
We can learn from the passage that ________ .
| A．all of the magazines are intended for adults. |
| B．among all the magazines, only School Sport Magazine is about sports. |
| C．Time Out & School Sport Magazine might be published in the United Kingdom. |
| D．among all the magazines, Time Out will cost you the least. |
The author’s purpose in writing this passage is to ________ .
| A．advertise four best-sellers |
| B．introduce four popular magazines to readers |
| C．ask readers to decide which of the four magazines is the best |
| D．get more people to buy these magazines |
It seems that the Englishman just cannot live without sports of some kinds. A famous French humorist once said that this is because the English insist on behaving like children all their lives. Wherever you go in this country, you will see both children and grown-ups knocking a ball about with a stick or something, as if in Britain men always remains boys and women girls! Still, it can never be bad to get exercise, can it?
Taking all amateur﹙业余的﹚ and professional﹙职业的﹚sports in Britain into consideration, there can be no doubt that football is at the top of the list. It is called soccer in the US. The game started in Britain and was played in the Middle Ages or even earlier, though as an organized game, or association football, it dates only from the beginning of the 19th century.
The next is rugby, which is called football in the US. It is a kind of football played by two teams of fifteen players rather than eleven. In rugby, an oval-shaped﹙椭圆形的﹚ball is used which can be held by hand as well as kicked. It is a pretty rough game.
In summer, cricket is the most popular sport. In fact, it has sometimes been called the English national game. Most foreigners find the game rather slow or even boring, but it enjoys great popularity among the British.
Tennis rates high on the list, too. It was introduced into England from France in the 15th century, but it was from England that it spread to almost every country in the world.
Table tennis, or ping-pong, surely is not played as much as it is in China and Japan. Basketball and volleyball were introduced into Britain during the late 19th century from America and are gaining popularity. Horse-back riding, swimming, rowing and golf all attract a lot of people.What’s the main purpose of Paragraph 1? ﹙no more than 11 words﹚
What are the differences between football and rugby from the passage? ﹙no more than 10 words﹚
According to the passage, which games were never played in Britain until the late 19th century? ﹙no more than 3 words﹚
What is the best title for this passage in your opinion? ﹙no more than 4 words﹚