Mo was waiting in the corridor outside her class. She was feeling sick. She had two exams that day and physics was first .She really hated physics. It was her worst subject. Terry Looked back at her from the front of the line, and then looked away quickly. Mo thought she looked guilty. She didn't have a problem with physics she didn't have a problem with anything ...Miss Perfect!
"Hi, Mo, it's your favorite exam today, "said Nima, laughing as she joined the line .Terry was looking at Mo again. “So what's wrong with her?” asked Nima."I thought you were friends." “Yes, so did I," said Mo." But she hasn't spoken to me for two weeks now. She promised to help me review for the physics exam too, but then she's ignored all my calls and texts .And when I rang her house, her mum just told me she was busy. She's forgotten who her friends are!" said Mo angrily. "Are you listening to me?" Mr. Reed was talking to the class and the other students were going into the exam room. Mo gave Nima a worried look and followed them.
Mo couldn't answer question number five. She looked up and saw Terry sitting two rows in front of her. Mo couldn't believe it! Terry was holding her phone on her knee under the table and reading from it. Is that how Terry always got such good grades? She felt really angry at Terry, but she didn't know what to do. She thought about telling the teacher, but what would everyone else think of her? "Stop writing and put your pens down" said Mr. Reed as he started to collect the exam papers. Oh no, Mo hadn't answered two of the questions. She was going to fail again!
Mo wanted to talk to Terry at lunch time, but she couldn't find her anywhere. The next exam was history. That was Mo's favourite subject but she wasn't feeling good. Mo went to the library to study, but she couldn't concentrate. She didn't know what to do about Terry. She thought about telling a teacher, but everyone would hate her if she did that. "It wasn't fair!” she thought. "Terry was getting good grades by cheating all that time.” thought Mo. Just then, Mr. Reed walked past her table. “Mr. Reed.”
Mo was sitting behind Terry again in the history exam that afternoon. Mo was feeling terrible. Why had she told Mr. Reed? But it was too late now. And anyway, Terry didn't want to be her friend! Mr. Reed wanted her to look at him and nod if she saw that Terry was cheating in the exam. She was working on the last question when she saw that Terry had her phone under the table. Without thinking, Mo looked up and nodded to Mr. Reed. Terry was too busy looking at her phone and she didn't hear him as he walked silently up to her table. Mr. Reed didn't say anything. He just picked up her exam paper, tore it in half and pointed to the door, to tell Terry to leave the room. Terry was crying as she walked to the door. Everyone was staring at her and Mo felt really guilty now. Why did she tell Mr. Reed?
Mo was walking towards the school gate, when she heard footsteps behind her. It was Terry. “Mo, please wait! I want to talk to you.” Mo could see that Terry had been crying, her face was pale and her eyes were red. Mo couldn't say a word. “Listen," said Terry. "I'm really sorry I haven't answered any of your calls, but we're having a terrible time at home. My dad had a heart attack two weeks ago and he's in hospital. He had a big heart operation today and I was very worried about him. I know it was stupid, but I was reading texts from my mum to see how the operation was going, but Mr. Reed caught me with my phone. He thought I was cheating. He believes me now, but I have to take the exam again. I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was happening. I haven't forgotten that you're a good friend'. Will you forgive me? ”At the beginning of the story Mo felt sick most probably because ______.
| A．Terry was looking at her form the front of the line |
| B．she was worried that she would fail the physics exam |
| C．she had to take two different exams within one day |
| D．she had been waiting in the line for too long a time |
Who does “Miss Perfect” in the first paragraph refer to?
| A．Mo | B．Nima | C．Terry | D．Terry's mum |
It can be inferred from the above passage that___________
| A．students didn't like those who were not faithful to their friends |
| B．Mr. Reed was a strict teacher who never corrected his mistakes |
| C．The physics exam was much more difficult than the history exam |
| D．Mo was angry because Nima laughed at her relationship with Terry |
Terry didn't help Mo review for the physics exam because_______________
| A．she didn't consider Mo as a true friend |
| B．she herself was quite bad at physics |
| C．she had to look after her sick father |
| D．she was selfish and hated to waste time |
At the end of the story Mo probably felt_______________
| A．confident and optimistic | B．glad and inspired |
| C．sad and angry | D．regretful and guilt |
What lesson can we learn from this passage?
| A．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| B．Friendship should be based on trust. |
| C．Old friends and old wines are the best. |
| D．A life without a friend is a life without a sun. |
If you are invited to a party by the Austrians and the suggested dress is "informal(非正式的)" (usually marked in the lower left-hand coner of the invitation) , it may mean dark suit and a white shirt for men and cocktail dress( 短短服) for women. Or again, may mean something considerably less formal. "Formal" means a black tie and evening dress for men and a floor-length dress for women. If a man is in doubt(拿不准) about what to wear, he may come slightly overdressed and then take his coat and tie off when he sees that others are wearing sports shirts. National dress is always acceptable.If a lady receives an invitation marked with "formal", she should wear
| A．a long dress | B．a cocktail dress | C．a short dress | D．a dark suit |
Suppose you are a man invited to an informal party by an Austrian, you'd better .
| A．wear dark clothes and dark suit |
| B．dress yourself in a dark suit and a white shirt |
| C．wear a coat and so on |
| D．wear sports shirts |
The general idea of this passage is .
| A．men and women should be dressed differently |
| B．national dress is always useful |
| C．what to wear if a person is invited to an Austrian party |
| D．men and women should dress themselves beautifully |
The meaning of "overdressed" is .
| A．dressing oneself a little too formally | B．dressing oneself a floor-length dress |
| C．wearing one's tie | D．dressing a sports shirt |
Mrs Smith's husband went off on a business trip to Australia. He wanted to catch the 3:30 plane to Darwin. She was very surprised when he telephoned her at 5 o'clock and said that he was still at the airport.
"What happened?" asked Mrs Smith.
"Well," said Mr Smith, "everything was going fine. I got my ticket, checked my luggage and waited in line at the gate. I walked across the runway to the airplane and I saw my friend Jack Scott. Jack was an airplane engineer. I shouted to him and a policeman caught me."
"Why did he catch you?"
"I don't know," said Mr Smith," All I said was ‘Hi, Jack! '"
The word "hijack" means "to take control of a plane by force".Why did Mr Smith want to fly to Australia? Because____________.
| A．he was an Australian businessman |
| B．he was leaving for Australia on business |
| C．his wife wanted him to |
| D．he wanted" to see his wife |
Mrs Smith was very surprised because
| A．Mr Smith didn't arrive in Darwin | B．Mr Smith telephoned her later |
| C．Mr Smith didn't leave the airport | D．Mr Smith was in Darwin |
Mr Smith couldn't get on the plane because
| A．he met with his friend Jack |
| B．he didn't get the ticket |
| C．there was something wrong with the airplane engine |
| D．he was stopped by a policeman |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The police didn't know Mr Smith was Jack Scott's friend. |
| B．Jack Scott worked as an airplane engineer. |
| C．The policeman misunderstood Mr Smith. |
| D．Mr Smith knew why the policeman caught him. |
Why was Mr Smith caught by the policeman?
| A．Because he didn't keep silence at the airport. |
| B．Because he greeted an airport engineer named Jack. |
| C．Because the pronunciation of "Hi, Jack" has another frightful meaning. |
| D．Because the policeman didn't know English. |
Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.
That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to get the past “Where are you from?”
Mr. Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.
The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities(优先考虑的事) changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”
As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain. Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another. “We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says. “But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”
The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom they would be ‘intimate’ with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.
“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up. “What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”
Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”What can the “conversations” be best described as?
| A．Deep and one-on-one. | B．Sensitive and mad. |
| C．Instant and inspiring. | D．Ordinary and encouraging. |
In a “feast of conversations”, participants ______.
| A．pair freely with anyone they like |
| B．have a guided talk for a set of period of time |
| C．ask questions they themselves would not answer |
| D．wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features. |
In paragraph 6, “they would be ‘intimate’” is closest in meaning to “______”.
| A．they would have physical contact | B．they would have in-depth talk |
| C．they would be close friends | D．they would exchange basic information |
From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is ______.
| A．an attempt to promote thinking interaction |
| B．one of the maddest activities ever conducted |
| C．a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas |
| D．an effort to give people a chance of talking freely |
Almost two-thirds of children want their parents to spend more time reading to them before bed, and most prefer Mum’s storytelling to Dad’s, researchers said.
They carried out a study that showed younger children aged 3-4 were most hungry for more stories, with over three-quarters saying they wished their parents read to them more often.
More than half of all children aged 3-8 said story time was their favourite pastime with their parents.
"The results of our research confirm the traditional activity of storytelling continues to be a powerful learning and emotional resource in children's lives," said child psychologist Richard Woolfson.
Storytelling ranked higher than television or video games among pastimes for kids, and 82 percent said reading a story with their parents helped them sleep better, according the survey of 500 children aged 3-8 in Britain.
The best storytellers were mothers who used funny voices to illustrate different characters or made their own special sound effects to keep the story moving, researchers said.
When mum and dad are not at hand, celebrities(名人) will do: over 30 percent of children said they would like to hear a bedtime story from Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, with teen idols(偶像) Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus and Emma Watson.
"It can be very difficult for parents to find the time to read with their children, but these moments can help build strong relations and play a vital part in their child's development," said Woolfson.The underlined word “pastime” in the passage most probably means .
| A．old time | B．entertainment | C．emotion | D．character |
The author develops the passage mainly by .
| A．pointing out similarities and differences | B．following the natural time order |
| C．comparing opinions from different fields | D．providing examples and statistics |
Reading a story with their parents helped most kids aged 3-8 .
| A．grow stronger | B．become more emotional | C．sleep better | D．become more powerful |
Japanese couples, too busy for a normal social life, are increasingly turning to actors to play their friends on the most important days of their lives.
Several agencies have sprung up(涌现)offering actors to attend weddings or even funerals.The first guest-for-hire company was established about nine years ago and around 10 agencies now send out dozens of pretend friends to family events.
Agencies such as Hagemashi Tai, which means “I want to cheer you up”, charge around ￡100 for each “guest”. Other services such as giving a speech in praise of a bride or the groom cost extra.
The appearance of the small fake friends industry has been linked to social and economic changes in Japan.With lifetime employment (终身雇佣制)a thing of the past, couples feel uncomfortable about inviting work colleagues to their wedding.Increasingly busy and put upon, many Japanese surround themselves with only a very small circle of friends.
When they marry, however, they are under pressure to match the number of their new partner’s wedding guests.
Office Agents, the largest provider of pretend friends, makes sure that its employees have done their homework and know all about the bride or groom before the wedding.
Hiroshi Mizutani, the company’s founder, said the fake friends he provides must look happy, be well dressed and look like people with good jobs.Why did fake friends industry come into being in Japan?
| A．Because of social and economic changes | B．Because of lifetime employment |
| C．Because of normal social life | D．Because of work pressure |
Pretend friends will be present at the following occasions except ________.
| A．weddings | B．funerals | C．work | D．family gathering |
The agents make sure that ________.
| A．fake friends have done their housework | B．fake friends have good jobs |
| C．fake friends must look happy and be well dressed | D．fake friends feel uncomfortable |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．Japanese Couples are Under Pressure to Get Married | B．Japanese Couples’ Social Life |
| C．The First Guest-for-hire Company in Japan | D．Japanese Couples Rely on Fake Friends |