When I was seven my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices(装置)tell the time----which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007.
This is ridiculous（荒唐的）. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all the other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions----but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?
If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world.
Watches are now classified as “investments”(投资). A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly $350,000, while 1960s Rolexes have gone from $15,000 to $30,000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It’s a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up----they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that $350,000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex.The sales of watches to young people have fallen because they_______.
| A．have other devices to tell the time |
| B．think watches too expensive |
| C．prefer to wear an iPod |
| D．have no sense of time |
It seems ridiculous to the writer that _______.
| A．people dive 300 metres into the sea |
| B．expensive clothes sell better than cheap ones |
| C．cheap cars don’t run as fast as expensive ones |
| D．expensive watches with unnecessary functions still sell |
What can be learnt about Swiss watch industry from the passage?
| A．It targets rich people as its potential customers. |
| B．It’s hard for the industry to beat its competitors. |
| C．It wastes a huge amount of money in advertising. |
| D．It’s easy for the industry to reinvent cheap watches. |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Timex or Rolex? |
| B．My Childhood Timex |
| C．Watches? Not for Me! |
| D．Watches----a Valuable Collection |
During the summer holidays there will be a revised（修改过的）schedule（时刻表）of services for the students . Changes for dining-room and library service hours and for bus schedules will be posted on the wall outside of the dining hall . Weekly film and concert schedules which are being arranged will be posted each Wednesday outside of the student club .
In the summer holidays , buses going to the town center will leave the main hall every hour on the half hour during the day . The dining room will serve three meals a day from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. during the week and two meals from noon to 7:00 p.m. on weekends the library will continue its usual hours during the week but have shorter hours on Saturday and Sundays . The weekend hours are from noon to 5:00 p.m.
All students who want to use the library borrowing services must have a new summer card . This announcement will also appear in the next week’s student newspaper .
1 The main purpose of this announcement is to .
A. tell students of important schedule changes .
B. tell students of new bus and library services .
C. show the excellent services for students .
D. ask students to renew their library cards .
2 At which of the following times will the bus leave the main hall ?
A. 8:00 , 9:00 , 10:00, 11:00 B. 8:30 , 9:30 , 10:30 , 11:30
C. 8:30 , 9:00 , 9:30 , 10:00 D. 8:00 , 9:30 , 11:00 , 12:30
3 Times for films and concerts are not listed in this announcement
because .
A. they are not to be announced B. they are hard to arrange
C. the full list is not ready D. the full list is too long
4 In the summer holidays , the library will have .
A. no special hours B. special hours on weekdays
C. special hours on weekendsD. special hours both on weekdays and weekends
People who speak or perform before the public sometimes may suffer from “Stage Fright. ” Stage fright makes a person nervous. In the worst case(情况) it can make one's mind go back and forget what one ought to say, or to act. Actors, musicians, dancers, lawyers, even radio show hosts(节目主持人) have suffered from stage fright at one time or another.
Diana Nichols is an expert in helping people free from stage fright at a medical centre in New York City. She helps actors learn to control themselves. Miss Nichols says some people have always been afraid to perform before the audience. Others, she says, develop stage fright after a fearful experience.
She offers them ways to control the fear. One way is to smile before going onto the stage. Taking two deep breaths also helps. Deep breathing helps you get control of your body.
Miss Nichols persuades her patients to tell themselves that their speech or performance does not have to the perfect. It's all right to make a mistake. She tells them they should not be too cautions(谨慎的) while they are performing. It is important that they should continue to perform while she is helping them. After each performance, they discuss what happened and find out what advice helped and what did not. As they perform more and more, they will fear less and less as much as 50%. Miss Nichols says the aim is only to reduce stage fright, not to eliminate it completely. This is because a little stage fright makes a person more cautious, and improves the performance.
1 One who is suffering stage fright may .
A. forget one's part before the audience
B. smile all the time on the stage
C. make a speech fast than ever
D. be cautious to improve his performance
2 The underlined word “eliminate” in the last paragraph means .
A. keep B. reduce C. change D. get rid of
3 The wrong way to overcome stage fright is .
A. to smile before going to the stage.
B. to take two deep breaths to calm oneself
C. to pay less attention to one's mistakes in performance
D. to perform less and to watch more
4 Which of the following statements is right?
A. We can get rid of stage fright completely.
B. A little stage fright can make actors perform better.
C. We can reduce stage fright as much as one third.
D. A little stage fright leads to complete failure.
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）
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，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A Businessman ordered ten goldsmiths to make ten coins each. Each coin was to weigh exactly ten gram of pure gold.
One of the goldsmiths was a bad man. He decided to cheat. He made all his coins one gram short. Now the businessman heard that one of them had cheated. He also heard that this man had made each of his coins one gram short.
The businessman was a clever person. He took a certain number of coins from each of the smiths, weighed them together once only and found their weight to be 540 grams. This was enough for him to find out which one of the goldsmiths had cheated.
1 The word “goldsmith” means .
A. a person named Smith who sells articles(物品) made of gold
B. a thief who steal gold
C. a worker who makes articles of gold
D. a person who works for the man named Smith
2 The businessman found the cheat by .
A. looking each man in the eye
B. weighing one coin after another
C. weighing coins
D. asking who hadn't made coins according to his request
3 In order to find the cheat, the businessman weighed coins altogether .
A. fifty B. fifty-four C. fifth-five D. sixty
4 Suppose the businessman took one coin from the first smith, two from the second,
and ten from the tenth, he found out that he goldsmith was the cheat.
A. first B. sixth C. ninth D. tenth
As people slowly learn to cure diseases, control floods, prevent hunger, and stop wars, fewer people die every year. As a result, the population of the world is becoming larger. In 1925 there were about 2 billion people in the world; today there are over 6 billion.
When the number rises, extra mouths must be fed. New lands must be brought under development, or land already farmed must be made to produce more crops. In some areas the land is so over-developed that it will be difficult to make it provide more crops. In some areas the population is so large that the land is divided into too tiny units to make improvement possible with farming methods. If a large part of this farming population went into industrial work, the land might be farmed much more productively (多产地) with modern methods.
There is now a race for science, technology, and industry to keep the output of food rising faster than the number of people to be fed. New types of crops, which will grow well in bad weather, are being developed, so there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle in Siberia and North America. Irrigation (灌溉) and dry-farming methods bring poor lands under the plough. Dams hold back the waters of great rivers, which can provide water for the fields in all seasons and provide electric power for new industries. Industrial chemistry provides fertilizer to suit different soils. Every year, some new methods are made to increase or to protect the food of the world.
1. The author says that the world population is increasing because _____.
A. there are many rich valleys and large fields
B. farmers are producing more crops than before
C. people are living longer due to better living conditions
D. new lands are being made into farmlands
2. The author says that in areas with large populations, land might be more productively farmed if _____.
A. the land was divided into smaller pieces
B. people moved into the countryside
C. industrial methods were used in farming
D. the units of land were much larger
3. We are told that there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle. This has been made possible by _____.
A. growing new types of crops
B. irrigation and dry-farming means
C. providing fertilizers
D. destroying pests and diseases
4. Why is the land divided into tiny units in some areas?
A. There are too many people living there.
B. It saves more natural resources there.
C. It prevents crops from serious diseases there.
D. Farmers can grow various kinds of crops there.
5. Why do some people use dams to hold back waters from great rivers?
A. To develop a new kind of dry-farming methods.
B. To prevent crops from floods.
C. To provide water and electricity in all seasons.
D. To water poor lands in bad weather.
Most shops in Britain open at 9:00 am, and close at 5:00 or 5:30 in the evening. Small shops usually close for an hour at lunchtime. On one or two days a week—usually Thursday and/or Friday—some large food shops stay open until about 8:00 pm for late night shopping.
Many shops are closed in the afternoon on one day a week. The day is usually Wednesday or Thursday and it is a different day in different towns.
Nearly all shops are closed on Sundays. Newspaper shops are open in the morning, and sell sweets and cigarettes as well. But not all the things can be sold on Sundays.
Usually it is not difficult for foreign visitors to find where to buy things. Most shops sell the things that you want to buy. One problem is stamps. In Britain you can only buy these at post offices. Many large food shops are self-service. When you go into one of these shops, you take a basket and you put the things you wish to buy into this. You pay for everything just before you leave. If anyone tries to take things from a shop without paying they are almost certain to be caught, because most shops have detectives.
When you are waiting to be served in a shop, it is important not try to be served before people who arrive before you. Many foreign people are surprised at the British way of queuing (排队).
1 Most shops in Britain stay open for about ______ a day.
A. eight hours B. five hours C. ten hours D. six hours
2 According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Some large food shops open for about 11 hours on Thursday or Friday.
B. Many shops are closed in the afternoon once a week on Tuesday.
C. Only a few things can be bought on Sundays.
D. It is not difficult for foreign visitors to buy things in Britain.
3 You can not buy ______ in shops.
A. cigarette B. sweets C. stamps D. clothes
4 Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Most shops usually close for an hour at lunchtime.
B. Many large shops are self-service.
C. Most shops have detectives.
D. People do not have to queue to be served.
5 Which of the following statements can be the best title of this passage?
A. Shops in Britain
B. How to buy things in Britain?
C. The British Way of Queuing
D. How long are the British shops?