Whenpeoplethinkoftheuniquechar-优题课

Thousands of people began pouring into Pennsylvania from other states. They wanted to buy lottery tickets. The tickets cost only $0．9 each ．But that small spending could bring them a reward of $90 million. That was the second largest lottery jackpot（积累奖金）in history.
More than 87 million tickets were bought for the Pennsylvania lottery drawing. Those who bought tickets had to choose seven numbers from 1 to 80. The chance of winning was one in 9．6 million. But that little chance certainly didn’t affect ticket sales. In the last few days before the drawing , tickets were selling at the unbelievable rate of 500 per second.
Experts say many people buy lottery tickets because they just want to have a piece of the action. Others say the lottery is a stock market for poor people. It allows them to dream about wealth they’ll probably never have.
But many people believe lotteries are no better than legalized gambling. Some critics note that most people who play are poor and may not be able to afford the tickets. There are also many addicts who take the game seriously. They may pour their life savings into lottery tickets. Some clubs have been formed to help them kick the habit.
Politicians like lotteries because they provide money that would otherwise have to some from new taxes. The profits from lotteries are usually used to pay for education or programs for senior citizens. But critics say this arrangement just allows states to legalize vice（恶习）, under the name of social progress. No matter whether you regard state lotteries right or not , you cannot refuse to accept their extreme popularity with many Americans.
1. The main idea of the passage is that．
A．lotteries are of great benefit to everyone who buys them
B．playing a lottery is just like investing in the stock market
C．a lot of people buy lottery tickets , but lotteries cause disagreement
D．lotteries are just legalized vice
2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage ?
A．Politicians like lotteries because they don’t have to pay extra tax ．
B．The popularity of lotteries in America actually is social progress ．
C．Some critics don’t like lotteries because many poor people waste their money on them ．
D．People love the lottery because it is a stock market ．
3. In just one hour in the last few days , the Pennsylvania lottery sold tickets totaling．
A．$1．62 millionB．$90millionC．$9．6millionD．$87million
4. People who are addicted to playing lotteries should．
A．join a clubB．save every cent
C．win the PennsylvaniaD．kick the habit

Sydney Airport International Terminal -Arrival Area
SPECIALTY RETAIL STORES
Newslink: Two separate Newslink stores cater to all your reading needs including newspapers, magazines and the latest bestsellers.
Downtown Duty Free: Make sure you shop at Downtown Duty Free for great savings on a range of items including perfume, alcohol, skincare products and cigarettes. It's your last chance before customs.
Beach Culture: A must for those into the latest beach clothing. Top fashion labels including Mambo, Stussy and Quicksilver, including children's sizes.
DINING
Blue Sky Cafe: Speedy service leaves you time to keep an eye on the arrival gate. Fresh milk, coffee, lemon juice, beer, whisky, ice cream, soda water, cakes and dumplings are on sale.
MacDonald's: hamburgers, fries, pancakes, roasted potatoes, muffins, Pepsi, Coca-cola and chocolates-all your family favorites. Breakfast is served until 10:30.
SERVICES
ATM: ATMs are conveniently located throughout Arrivals and Departures. Dollars, pounds, francs and RMB are all accepted.
Vodafone Rentals: This communications center offers the very latest technology for mobile phone rentals, sales and serving.
1．Where is the passage likely to appear?
A．In a morning newspaper.B．In a monthly magazine.
C．In a geography book.D．In an official guidebook.
2．The underlined phrase "cater to" probably means _______.
A．satisfyB．affordC．supportD．help
3．According to the passage, you can draw ______ from ATMs.
A．dollars and yenB．pounds and RMB
C．RMB and rublesD．francs and euros
4．At Beach Culture you can probably buy _______.
A．newspapers and magazinesB．skincare products and cigarettes
C．adult cotton T-shirtsD．fresh juice and breakfast rolls

Our sense of hearing is one of the most important means of knowing what is going on around us. We are warned of danger by sounds. The sounds of music please us. Sound has a waste product, too, in the form of noise. Noise has been called unwanted sound. Noise is growing and it may get much worse before it gets any better.
Scientists, for several years, have been studying how noise affects people and animals and are alarmed by what they have learned.
Peace and quiet are becoming harder to find. Noise pollution is no joke. It is a threat that should be looked at carefully.
Sound is measured in units called decibels （分贝）. At a level of 140 decibels people feel pain in their ears.
Trucks, buses, motorcycles, airplanes, boats, and factories all make noise. This noise bothers not only our ears, but our minds and bodies as well.
There is a saying about "it is so noisy that you can't hear yourself think". Doctors who study noise believe that we must be able to hear ourselves think most of the time. If we don't, we may have headaches, other aches and pains, or even mental problems. Noise adds even more tension to a society which already faces too much stress.
1．The sense of hearing _______.
A．makes people feel angry
B．makes people want to dance
C．helps people to know what is happening around them
D．is something harmful to people
2．When sound is turned into noise, _______.
A．people become illB．it makes people forget the past
C．people don't know how to deal with it D．it becomes a kind of pollution
3．Why does the passage say " Peace and quiet are becoming harder to find " ?
A．Sounds of over 140 decibels are common these days.
B．There are always wars going on in the world.
C．The world is making more and more noise.
D．All kinds of machines make noises.
4．Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A．Scientists are warning people noise can be harmful.
B．It's possible for man to get rid of all noises.
C．Sounds under 140 decibels are not considered to be noise.
D．Society has become more lively because there is noise now.

To us it seems so natural to put up an umbrella to keep the water off when it rains. But actually the umbrella was not invented as protection against the rain. Its first use was as a shade against the sun!
Nobody knows who first invented it, but the umbrella was used in very ancient times. Probably the first to use it were the Chinese, back in the eleventh century B.C.
We know that the umbrella was used in ancient Egypt and Babylon as a sunshade. And there was a strange thing connected with its use: it became a symbol of honor. In the Far East in ancient times, the umbrella was allowed to be used only by those in high office.
In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade. And the umbrella was in common used in ancient Greece. But it is believed that the first persons in Europe to use the umbrella as protection against the rain were the ancient Romans.
During the Middle Ages, the use of the umbrella practically disappeared. Then it appeared again in Italy in the late sixteenth century. And again it was considered as a symbol of power. By 1680, the umbrella appeared in France, and later on in England.
By the eighteenth century, the umbrella was used against rain throughout most of Europe. Umbrellas have not changed much in style during all this time, though they have become much lighter in weight. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that women’s umbrellas began to be made, in a whole variety of colours.
1. According to this passage, the umbrella was probably first invented in ancient _______.
A. China B. Egypt C. Greece D. Rome
2. Which of the following statements is not true about the umbrella?
A. No one exactly knows who was the inventor of the umbrella.
B. The umbrella was first invented to be used as protection against the sun.
C. The umbrella changed much in style in the eighteenth century.
D. In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade.
3. A strange feature(特征) of the umbrella’s use is that it was used as _______.
A. protection against rain B. a shade against the sun
C. a symbol of honour and power D. women’s decoration
4. In Europe, the umbrella was first used against the rain ___________.
A. during the Middle Ages B. by the eighteenth century C. in Rome D. in Greece

第二部分：阅读理解（共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分，满分45分）
第一节阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项。
When he thought of the past, my grandfather would sometimes show us photographs of himself at school. They were brown and faded, and it was hard to believe that the blurred(模糊) figure of the little boy in the short trousers and socks could ever have been Grandfather. Besides, he wore a cap --- all the boys in the photographs wore caps pulled so far forward that half of their faces were obscured. When Grandfather asked us to pick him out from the group, we would surely point to the wrong boy.
On one such occasion my younger sister, aged six, burst into tears when Grandfather proudly guided her finger to the right boy. "How could that boy be you?" she cried. "He should have a beard." We were, of course, all convinced that grandfathers should have beards, preferably white and bushy, like our own grandfather's.
"I was a good scholar," Grandfather would say, wagging his beard over the photographs. "I should have been top of the class if I hadn't had to get up at six every morning to milk the cows and chop the wood, and again when I came home from school."
"But Saturdays? What did you do on Saturdays?"
"Saturdays, if it was fine, I'd be out all day in the fields with the men," replied Grandfather. "And if it was wet, I'd be helping my mother with odd jobs round the house. There wasn't much time for studying."
We all tried hard to imagine what it would have been like to have seen Grandfather getting up at crack of dawn and never, obviously, having a moment for himself. It seemed we had learnt something from what Grandfather had said about his childhood.
1. In the first paragraph of this passage, what the author really tells us is that ________ .
A. his grandfather used to wear short trousers, socks and a cap as well
B. it was difficult to tell which of the boys in the photographs was Grandfather
C. he didn't believe Grandfather wore a cap pulled forward when he was at school
D. it was fun to watch boys in the photographs wearing caps pulled forward
2. The author's sister burst into tears because________.
A. she did not get a chance to pick out Grandfather in the photographs
B. she was told which was the right boy before she herself could pick him out
C. other children did not agree with her that Grandfather should have had a beard
D. she found Grandfather in the photographs did not have a beard
3. When Grandfather said, "I should have been top of the class...", he meant ________ .
A. if he had had more time for studying, he would have been the best in his class
B. he should have spent more time studying rather than playing ball games
C. his school days should not have been so hard and miserable
D. he could have never been the best student even if he had studied still harder
4. In the last paragraph the author said, "We all tried hard to imagine..." because ________ .
A. the figures of the boys in the photographs were small and blurred
B. the children had never experienced life like that of Grandfather
C. the photographs Grandfather showed them were brown and faded
D. Grandfather failed to tell them about his childhood in detail

A．Small lanes.	B．Water well.
C．Siheyuan.	D．A traditional house.

A．Replace.	B．Destroy.
C．Restore.	D．Establish.