Bright red post boxes, the Queen and queuing---what do they all have in common? They are all important parts of British life. At least I thought so.
However, the ability to queue for long periods of time, once believed to be a traditional characteristic of British, is no longer tolerated by people in the UK, according to a survey done by British bank Barclays.
Once upon a time, queuing was seen as normal. During World War Ⅱ, everyone had to queue up to receive their daily supply of foods. In fact, if you didn’t stand up and wait in line with all the others, it was seen as uncivilized(不文明的).
The famous English double-decker buses, with only one entrance, might also help explain why queuing was seen as part of British life. Almost always, there is a queue to get in.
But perhaps the British are tired of being pushed past by the Spanish, the Italian or the French as they queue up to get a table at a restaurant. The people of these other European countries have more than one entrance to their buses, which explains their more relaxed attitude to the queue.
Two minutes is now the longest time most British people are prepared to stand and wait. But could it be that the Internet, which allows us to carry out tasks quickly, is the main reason why British people are no longer prepared to queue?
“Used to buying without delay, customers are even giving up purchases rather than wait their turn,” says Stuart Neal of Barclaycard. “Shoppers are also less likely to queue for long if the item they are buying is of low value.”
Perhaps I will have to replace “queuing” with “impatience” in my list of things I relate to the British.What can we learn about the tradition of queuing in Britain?
| A．It was a product of the slow pace of life. |
| B．It was a long time tradition as old as the Queen. |
| C．It was considered a symbol of a civilized behavior. |
| D．It has made the British different from other Europeans. |
According to the passage, the British gradually stopped queuing because .
| A．they prefer shopping online |
| B．they follow the example of foreigners |
| C．British buses have more than one entrance |
| D．the Internet has changed their way of life |
It can be learned from the text that .
| A．the British get impatient with queuing for long |
| B．the British have to queue to receive foods |
| C．the British like to eat in foreign restaurants |
| D．the British prefer to take double-decker buses |
The author’s main purpose of writing the passage is .
| A．to tell us the influence of the Internet on the British ways of life |
| B．to compare the cultural differences between Britain and other European countries |
| C．to talk about the changes in the attitude to queuing in Britain |
| D．to report his research on the British ways of life |
There are various reasons why cancers appear to be on the increase. For one thing, though their sufferers are to be found in all age groups, cancers are particularly likely to attack persons in their middle and advanced years. Naturally, since people live longer these years, there are more cancer sufferers than before. Again, with better methods of diagnosis (诊断), doctors can more easily recognize cancerous growths that would formerly have passed unnoticed or that would have been wrongly diagnosed. It is also believed that certain habits and conditions of modem living, including heavy smoking and the pollution of the air, may leave people living in more cancer-causing conditions than before.
We all look forward to the day when a simple medical test can find cancer while it is still small. Researchers around the world are working on such a test. Most of their work deals with the examination of the blood.
Researchers in Boston have found something in the blood of cancer patients that does not appear in healthy persons. The test showed which persons had cancer and which did not. It was correct more than 90 percent of the time.
The researchers believe the test may be able to show cancer very clearly in its development. Cancers discovered early usually can be treated successfully.
The test examines very small bits of fat in the blood called lipids (脂质). Cancers seem to change lipids although doctors do not know why. The test showed differences between the lipids of the persons with cancer and the lipids of those without cancer.
The researchers say the new test could be a step to develop a simple way to check patients for cancer before the disease shows on an X-ray.. Who will fail cancer from the study of the researchers?
| A．The young. | B．The middle age and the older. |
| C．The man. | D．The woman. |
The underlined words "such a test" refer to________.
| A．the test that shows which persons have cancer and which don’t . |
| B．the test that may be able to show cancer very early in its development,. |
| C．a simple medical test that cannot find cancer when it is -small |
| D．a new test that could be a step to develop a difficult way |
. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Cancers have much to do with something in patients’ blood. |
| B．People living in better conditions are most likely to be attacked by cancer. |
| C．X-raying is the best way to determined whether a person has cancer or not. |
| D．Cancers have nothing to do with a person’s habits and living conditions. |
. What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．A simple way to cancer | B．Cancers can be cured |
| C．How to find cancer | D．Early discovery of cancer |
It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be responsible （有责任的）for housework, but with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.
If you give your children the impression that they can never do anything quite right, then they will regard themselves as unfit or unable persons. Unless children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally independent.
My daughter Carla’s fifth - grade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received less than a prefect test score, she would point out what they had mastered and declared firmly they could learn what they had missed.
You can use the same technique when you evaluate （评价）your child’s work at home. Don’t always scold and give lots of praise instead. Talk about what he has done right, not about what he hasn’t done. If your child completes a difficult task, promise him a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.
Learning is a process（过程）of trying and failing and trying and succeeding. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake of failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last.
The whole passage deals with ________.
| A．social education | B．school education |
| C．family education | D．pre - school education |
The author thinks that________.
| A．there is no way to get children to help at home |
| B．the more encouragement and praise you give, the more responsible and helpful children will become |
| C．it is very difficult to make children responsible for housework |
| D．children can be forced to help with housework |
The article gives us a good suggestion about how to evaluate（评价）your child’s work at home. That is to ________.
| A．praise his success | B．promise him a trip |
| C．give him a punishment | D．promise him a ball game |
The author advises readers to________.
| A．learn from himself, for he has a good way of teaching |
| B．take pride in Carla’s fifth - grade teacher |
| C．do as what Carla’s teacher did in educating children |
| D．follow Carla’s example because she never fails in the test |
For years scientists have been worried about the effects of air pollution on the earth’s natural conditions. Some believe the air inside many houses may be more dangerous than the air outside. It may be one hundred times worse.
Indoor air pollution can cause a person to feel tired, to suffer eye-pain, headache and other problems. Some pollutants（污染物） can cause breathing disorders, diseases of blood and even cancer, Most scientists agree that every modern house has some kind of indoor pollution. People began to notice the problem in the early 1970s. It is that when builders began making houses and offices they did not waste energy. To do this they built buildings that limited the flow of air between inside and outside. They also began using manmade building materials. These materials are now known to let out harmful gases. As the problem became more serious, scientists began searching for a way to deal with it. They discovered a natural pollution control system for building— green plants. Scientists do not really know how plants control air pollution. They believe that a plant’s leaves absorb or take in the pollutants. In exchange the plant lets out oxygen through its leaves and through its tiny organizations on its roots. Scientists suggest that all buildings should have one large plant or several small plants inside for every nine square metres of space. Studies of different plants show that each absorbs different chemicals. So the most effective way to clean the air is to use different kinds of plants. Having green plants inside your house can make it a prettier and more healthy place.
Generally speaking, indoor air pollution may be more harmful than the air outside because ________.
| A．the man - made building materials let out dangerous gases inside houses |
| B．there may be more harmful gases outside houses |
| C．the flow of air indoors is limited |
| D．indoor air pollution can make a person seriously ill |
The most effective way to clean the air is to use different kinds of plants because________.
| A．they may let out more oxygen which people need |
| B．they can absorb different kinds of the harmful indoor chemicals |
| C．they can take in all kinds of indoor pollutants |
| D．they can make your house prettier and more healthy |
For almost forty years the Empire State Building in New York City was the world's tallest skyscraper（摩天大楼）. The building reaches a height of 1, 250 feet. It has 102 floors. The use of steel frames made its height possible. Steel walls can rise height without needing to be thick. Steel frame construction is strong. All plates are fixed firmly together by metal bolts（螺栓）called rivets （铆钉）. When set in place, rivets are usuall red- hot. One end is already rounded. A riveter uses a special hammer to shape the other end. Then the rivet cools. It holds the plates firmly. High winds can move this strong building. A wind of a hundred miles an hour has caused it to move almost one and a half inches.
The writer says that the Empire State Building ________.
| A．hasn’t been finished |
| B．is in New York City |
| C．is the tallest skyscraper in the world now |
| D．had fewer floors than the New World Trade Center |
In steel -frame building, the bottom walls________ .
| A．must be very thick |
| B．must be rounded |
| C．are usually red - hot |
| D．do not need to be thick |
Rivets are described as being ________.
| A．picked up by tools when red -hot |
| B．hit by tools when red - hot |
| C．usually caught in a hole |
| D．usually put in place when red - hot |
In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business. But he was not a good artist. So he invented a very simple cameras. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his yard. That was the first photograph.
The next important date in the history! of photography was 1837. That year, Daguerre, another French, took a picture of his studio. He used a new kind of camera and a different process. In his pictures, you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest details. This kind of photograph was called a daguerreotype.
Soon, other people began to use Daguerre's process. Travelers brought back daguerreotypes from all around the world. People photographed famous buildings, cities and mountains.
In about 1840, the process was improved. Then photographers could take pictures of people and moving things. The process was not simple. The photographers had to cary lots of films and processing equipment. But this did not stop the photographers, especially in the United States. After 1840s daguerreotype artists were popular in most cities.
Mathew Brady was a well - known American photographer. He took many pictures of famous people. The pictures were unusual because they were very life - like and full of personality （个性）.
Brady was also the first preson to take pictures of war. His 1862 Civil War pictures showed dead soldiers and ruined cities. They made the war seem more real and more terrible.
In the 1880s, new inventions began to change photography... Photographers could buy films readymade in rolls（卷）. So they did not have to make the film themselves. Also, they did not have to process the film immediately. They could bring it back to their studios and develop it later meaning that they did not have to carry lots of equipment. And finally, the invention of the small handheld camera made photography less expensive.
With the small camera, anyone could be a photographer. People began to use cameras just for fun. They took pictures of their families, friends and favorite places. They called these pictures" snapshot".
Photographs became very popular in newspapers in the 1890s. Soon magazines and books also used documentary photographs. These pictures showed true events and people. They were much more real than drawing.
Photography also turned into a form of art by the end of the 10th century. Some photographs were not just copies of the real world. They showed ideas and feelings, like other art forms.
The passage is mainly about ________.
| A．the inventoin of cameras |
| B．a kind of new art - photography |
| C．the development of photography |
| D．the important dates in the history of photography |
The first pictures of a war were taken by________.
| A．a French photographer in the 1840s |
| B．an American photographer in the 1860s |
| C．a German reporter in the 1880s |
| D．a French artist in the 1890s |
Photography can also be an art form because artists can ________.
| A．take anything they like |
| B．keep a record of real life |
| C．take photos of the famous |
| D．show ideas and feeling in pictures |