We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (柜厨) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it, ” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack. I’ve always wanted one like that.”
What could I do? Ten minutes later I was ￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.
In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.
After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?” In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.
“Right, sir, ” he said. “Do you need any more help?”
I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer, ” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”
He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well, ” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”
My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.” I drove home as fast as I could.Other drivers thought the author and his wife were _______.
| A．carrying a cupboard to the church |
| B．sending flowers to the church |
| C．carrying nothing but a piece of furniture |
| D．going to attend a funeral at the church |
The police will be more polite to those who are _______.
| A．driving in gathering darkness |
| B．in great sorrow |
| C．driving with wild flowers in the car |
| D．carrying furniture |
What did the husband think of this matter?
| A．It was very strange. | B．He took great pride in it. |
| C．He felt ashamed of it. | D．He was puzzled at it. |
“I Love My Neighborhood” Poster Contest
The “I Love My Neighborhood” Poster Contest was developed in l993．It aims to educate your students and their families about neighborhood pride and duty．Lessons and activities are provided in a teacher’s guide．Students can learn about the sources of litter and pollution prevention．
RULES
All children in primary schools are invited to submit(提交) one piece of work. The Winning posters will be reproduced and handed out throughout the neighborhood．
◆Students are encouraged to bravely use different colors and to be as creative as possible! It is up to the student and you to decide which art tool to use such as crayons. Color pencils are not advised because they do not reproduce well．
◆The topic, “I am part of my neighborhood!” must be included in the design of each poster. The Committee requires that students include their
mascot(吉祥物) in each poster.
◆All work must be on normal-sized paper for winning posters reproduction purposes. Over-sized posters will have no chance of taking part in the final competition．
◆All work submitted must be the child’s own work．Your students can be guided by you or their parents; we simply want to avoid poster not drawn by themselves．
◆Please review each poster before submitting．
Each work to be submitted must include the student’s name, grade level，your name and school name on the BACK of each poster．
For more information or questions about the 2012 “I Love My Neighborhood” Poster Contest, contact(联系) Jaixen Webb at (818) 551-6933 or jwebb@ci.glendale. ca.us． ’We can learn from Paragraph l that the contest ______.
| A．has a history of more than 20 years |
| B．offers kids activities organized by parents |
| C．aims to protect the environment by the power of art |
| D．hopes kids can feel proud of their neighborhood |
To win the contest, students must _____.
| A．use different-sized Paper | B．design a mascot for the contest |
| C．avoid using crayons and color pencils | D．draw the posters by themselves |
The text is mainly written for ______.
| A．students | B．neighborhood committees | C．teachers | D．parents |
Australians have been warned they face a life or death decision over their water —— drink recycled sewage(污水) or die.
With the drought(干旱) continuing, the country is set to be forced to use purified waste water for drinking, even if there is great opposition to the measure
Queensland has become the first state to introduce the policy after a warning from its premier.
“I think in the end, because of the drought, all of Australia is going to end up drinking recycled purified water,” said former Premier Peter Beattie. “These are difficult decisions, but you either drink water or you die. There’s no choice. It's liquid gold; it a matter of life and death.”
Beattie said Australia's second largest state would become the first to use recycled water for drinking．
Water is recycled in Britain and parts of northern Europe along with the US and Israel．
But Australians have never liked the idea．
To try to change the way Australians think, John Howard and Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull have Supported Queensland’s move.
“I am very strongly for recycling and Mr Beattie is right and I agree with him completely,” Howard said．
“Australian cities, all now facing water shortages because of the worst drought on record, must start to use recycled water,” added Turnbull. “All of our big cities have to widen the range of water sources to include sources which are not dependent on rainfall.”What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Australians face the choice of life and death． |
| B．Continuing drought forces Australians to drink recycled sewage． |
| C．Mr Beattie is worried about his people’s health． |
| D．We should avoid drinking recycled water to keep healthy． |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The drought is the worst one in the droughts recorded in Australian history． |
| B．Australia’s largest state has become the first state to introduce the policy． |
| C．No other countries but Australia decides to drink recycled water． |
| D．Nobody disagrees to the idea of drinking recycled purified water． |
It can be inferred from what Peter Beattie said that_________.
| A．he gives orders to drink purified waste water. |
| B．if the decision is made, people won't survive the drought |
| C．it is painful for him to see his people drink recycled sewage |
| D．it's up to you to make a life or death decision |
I once had my Chinese MBA students brainstorming on “two-hour business plans”. I separated them into six groups and gave them an example: a restaurant chain. The more original their idea, the better, I said. Finally, five of the six groups presented plans for restaurant chains. The sixth proposed a catering(餐饮) service. Though I admitted the time limit had been difficult, I expressed my disappointment.
My students were middle managers, financial analysts and financiers from state-owned enterprises and global companies. They were not without talent or opinions, but they had been shaped by an educational system that rarely stressed or rewarded critical thinking or inventiveness. The scene I just described came in different forms during my two years’ teaching at the school. Papers were often copied from the Web and the Harvard Business Review. Case study debates were written up and just memorized. Students frequently said that copying is a superior business strategy, better than inventing and creating.
In China, every product you can imagine has been made and sold. But so few well-developed marketing and management minds have been raised that it will be a long time before most people in the world can name a Chinese brand.
With this problem in mind, partnerships with institutions like Yale and MIT have been established. And then there’s the “thousand-talent scheme”: this new government program is intended to improve technological modernization by attracting top foreign-trained scientists to the mainland with big money. But there are worries about China’s research environment. It's hardly known for producing independent thinking and openness, and even big salary offers may not be attractive enough to overcome this.
At last, for China, becoming a major world creator is not just about setting up partnerships with top Western universities. Nor is it about gathering a group of well-educated people and telling them to think creatively. It’s about establishing a rich learning environment for young minds. It’s not that simple.Why does the author feel disappointed at his students?
| A．Because there is one group presenting a catering service. |
| B．Because the six groups made projects for restaurant chains. |
| C．Because all the students copied a case for the difficult topic. |
| D．Because the students’ ideas were lacking in creativeness. |
Which of the following scenes is NOT considered as lack of creation?
| A．Papers were often downloaded from the Internet. |
| B．Students often said that copying is a preferable business strategy. |
| C．Students combine knowledge and critical thoughts to solve a problem. |
| D．Case study debates were written up as well as recited. |
The underlined word “scheme” in the forth paragraph means__________.
| A．timetable | B．theme | C．project | D．policy |
We can infer from the passage that ___________.
| A．China can make and sell any product all over the world |
| B．high pay may not solve the problem of China’s research environment |
| C．cooperation with institutions has been set up to make a Chinese brand |
| D．the new government program are aimed at encouraging imagination |
Which is the best title of the passage?
| A．Look for a New Way of Learning | B．Reward Creative Thinking |
| C．How to Become a Creator | D．Establish a technical Environment |
London, April 28---The Man Group, a British hedge fund, is betting that investors will want to read more than the latest how-to- get –rich-quick business book.
In a five-year deal worth roughly $3.6 million announced last week, Man has agreed to sponsor(主办)the Booker Prize for Fiction, which will be renamed the Man Booker Prize. Since creating the award in 1969, Booker P.L.G., a British food group, in June 2000, executives began considering attracting outside sponsors. Man will be the first of these. Bill Grimsey, the chief of the Big Food Group, saw little business sense in a link between a food supplier and a literary prize, explained Dotti Irving, a spokeswoman for the Booker Prize foundation.
Such dissimilarities (差异) have not reduced Man’s enthusiasm for the prize which is expected to be open for the first time to American authors. David Browne, a spokesman for Man, said most of the firm’s investors are high-net-worth individuals who appreciate literature. “The people who buy hedge funds,” Mr. Browne said, “also read.”
Under the new agreement, authors will get more money. The winner of the annual prize, to be awarded in October, will receive $73,000 , up from $30,000 the Australian writer Peter Carey won last year for his novel “True History of the Kelley Gang.”
The six short-listed authors will each receive $3,600, up from $1,500. Having a hedge fund as a backer apparently has its perks.(福利).The article is mainly about ____.
| A．the disagreement between two groups | B．the Booker Prize Foundation |
| C．the Big Food Group | D．The new development of Booker Prize |
This article is most probably seen in a(n) ____.
| A．best-selling book | B．magazine | C．newspaper | D．advertisement |
What can be inferred from the article?
| A．Bill Grimsey decided to open the prize for American authors |
| B．“How-to-get-rich-quick” business was written by Peter Carey. |
| C．Under the agreement, the Booker Prize will be sponsored only by Man. |
| D．If you win the prize, you will get $73,000 next October |
Who is the spokesman for Man?
| A．David Browne | B．Peter Carey | C．Bill Grimsey | D．Dotti Irving |
When the TV viewer turns on his set, what sort of programs does he have to choose from? You might think there would be more programs devoted to entertainment than to anything else, but that’s not the case. In most countries, fewer than 20% of broadcasting hours are devoted to entertainment. U.S. figures are high----34.8% , and the unloving Canadians are even higher with 44%. Except Canada and Italy, all countries give more broadcasting time to education than to either information (news , documentaries and so on) or entertainment programs. Of course, few educational broadcasts take place during peak viewing times. In Japan though , more than 60%of broadcasting time is taken up with education of one kind of anther----just another example of the businesslike Japanese philosophy. In the U.K., the figure is 56.4% . the Italians have fewer educational programs than anyone else. They don’t go in for entertainment either. Only about ten percent of viewing time is devoted to dramas and serials, quiz shows, music, sports etc. You will find more news information programs on Italian TV than anything else. That’s understandable in a country experiencing social and political changes. Italians rely on TV to tell them what’s going on---and events are happening almost too fast to follow. The percentage of time the U.S. devoted to news and documentary programs is much smaller. After education, most TV time is given to entertainment. Many of these programs are shown around the world.Based on this passage, the greatest percentage of TV broadcasting hours to educational is in __.
| A．Japan | B．Italy | C．Canada | D．the United States |
More news information programs are broadcast on Italian TV than anywhere else because the Italians ___.
| A．are interested in what is happening in the world. |
| B．Like to follow the changes that are going on in their social life |
| C．Prefer to learn news information on TV rather than in newspapers |
| D．Expect TV to tell them the latest news about what is going on in their country |
So far as the broadcasting hours devoted to entertainment , which of the following is true?
| A．The Japanese figure is the highest in the world. |
| B．The U.S. figure is smaller than the U. K. figure |
| C．The U.K. figure is second to the Japanese figure |
| D．The Canadian figure is higher than that of any other country. |
In the United States, ____.
| A．TV programs are shown for world audience to watch |
| B．Most of TV broadcasting hours are give to entertainment |
| C．Educational programs are shown during peak viewing times |
| D．TV broadcasting hours devoted to education are more than those devoted to entertainment |