Does your local town have a nickname (绰号)? If so, what does it say about the area and the people who live there?
Many cities are recognized across the world by their unofficial titles. New York is the Big Apple, London is the Big Smoke, and Los Angles is famously called La La Land (used to mean that the people who live there are slightly crazy).
Now Britain’s national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey, and the British linguistics charity (语言学慈善机构), the English Project, are launching a project to uncover the nicknames people use for local places.
The project, which got started last week to coincide with English Language Day, is called Location Lingo. It aims to identify the names people use every day, whether it’s a term of endearment(昵称) or a hate name.
The University of Winchester’s Professor Bill Lucas is a supporter of the English Project. He explains that unofficial place names often show what people think about a place. “The name that people create for a place forms an emotional connection,” he says. “So Basingstoke becomes Amazingstoke, Swindon is known as Swindump and Padstow, hometown of chef Rick Stein, is nicknamed Padstein.”
Basingstoke is a town in central England. The local nickname, Amazingstoke, shows the affection that locals seem to have for the area Swindon, on the other hand, is sometimes called, Swindump, showing that some people think it’s a dump (垃圾场). Stanford Le Hope in Essex is called Stanford No Hope by locals. And Padstow in Cornwall is so closely associated with the local celebrity Rick Stein that it’s become known as Padstein.
Since launching the online database last week, the creators have already received 3,000 alternative titles for places and famous buildings.
Glen Hart, Ordnance Survey’s head Of research, says the information could be very helpful to the emergency services. For example, “By having the most complete set of nicknames we could help the emergency services quickly locate the right place, and maybe even save lives,” he says.According to Bill Lucas, unofficial place names ___________.
| A．are mostly positive |
| B．make many people confused |
| C．don’t show the real condition of a place |
| D．are a good way for people to express their feelings |
We can learn from the passage that Swindump is probably ___________.
| A．a hate name | B．a place of interest |
| C．a term of endearment | D．a famous person’s name |
In the opinion of Glen Hart, Britain’s nickname survey ___________.
| A．is of little value |
| B．has a practical use |
| C．will face lots of difficulties |
| D．will honor local celebrities |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．London is called La La Land. |
| B．Swindon has many nicknames. |
| C．People consider Basingstoke a dangerous place. |
| D．People in Stanford Le Hope are disappointed with it. |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Organizations collect unofficial place names. |
| B．Cities across Britain have special features. |
| C．Unofficial titles are bringing cities trouble. |
| D．People have a great affection for their cities. |
Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the United States today because it is about simple but strong human feelings and events------love, sadness, good times, and bad times. It tells real-life, stories and sounds the way people really talk. As life becomes more complicated(复杂), it is good to hear music about ordinary people.
Country music, sometimes called country-western, comes from two kinds of music. One is the traditional music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern Unite States. The other is traditional cowboy music from the west. The singers usually play guitars, and in the 1920s they started using electric guitars. At first city people said country music was low class. It was popular mostly in the South. But during World War II, thousands of Southerners went to the Northeast and Midwest to work in the factories. They took their music with them. Soldiers from the rest of the country went to army camps in the South. They learned country music. Slowly it became popular all over the country.
Today country music is also popular everywhere in the United States and Canada-------in small towns and in New York City, among black and white, and among educated and uneducated people. About 1, 200 radio stations broadcast country music twenty-four hours a day. English stars sing it in British English, and people in other countries sing it in their own languages. The music that started with cowboys and poor southerners is now popular all over the world.
77. It can be learned from the passage that country music comes from.
A. the Northeast and Midwest
B. factories and army camps in the South
C. the Appalachian Mountains and the West
D. real-life stories in small towns
78. Before World War II country music was popular mainly in.
A. the south B. the north C. the Midwest D. the Northeast
79. Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the world
today because.
A. city people said it was low class
B. people could sing it in many different languages
C. it started with cowboys and poor Southerners
D. it is loved by different kinds of people in the world
80. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Country music is about human feelings and events.
B. Country music is sung by stars all in English.
C. Country music is popular among city people today.
D. City people didn’t like country music at first.
In the mid 1990’s, people started doing business on the Internet. At that time, there were two kinds of companies(公司). First, there were traditional companies. They sold things in stores. Then there were Internet companies. They didn’t have a store, and they only sold things on the Net.
Traditional companies didn’t want to lose any business. Quickly they made their own websites and began selling things on the Net. These are the so-called “brick and click” companies. Many stores are made of brick. And you click on your mouse to buy things with your computer. That’s where the name “brick and click” comes from.
By the late 1990’s, e-business like amazon.com, buy.com and etoys.com were in trouble. Their profits（利润）were not very high. Competition was great. Many of these business were losing lots of money. In 2000, many e-business went out of business.
Why are “brick and click” companies, like Barnes and Noble, Toys RVs and Walmart so successful? First, many customers know and trust their names. Their websites like walmart.com. are easy to remember. These companies also have lots of experience. They know how to run a successful business.
In the world of e-commerce, companies are fighting for every dollar and every customer. Will “brick and click” companies win the war? Only time will tell.
72. Which of the following would be a “brick and click” company?
A. A restaurant.
B. A clothing company with no website.
C. A bookseller with five stores and a website.
D. A video seller with a big website but no stores.
73. What did many traditional companies do in the mid 1990’s? .
A .They went out of business.B. They made their websites.
C. They bought Internet companies. D. They sold their companies.
74. What gave Internet companies lots of trouble in the late 1990’s?.
A. Heavy competition. B. They were short of money.
C. They didn’t know what to do.D. people didn’t believe in them.
75. “Brick and click” companies are so successful because______.
A. people trust them B. their names are easy to remember
C. they are experiencedD. all the above
76. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. All the “brick and click” companies run a successful business.
B. “Brick and click” companies are certain to win the business competition.
C. It is uncertain whether “brick and click” companies will win the competition.
D. Both “brick and click” companies and Internet companies will be successful in the future
When friends come to visit us in the evening, they spend their time telling us they are in a hurry and looking at their watches. It isn’t that our friends are all very busy; it is just that we haven’t got a television. People think that we are very strange. “But what do you do in the evening?” they are always asking. The answer is very simple. Both my wife and I have hobbies. We certainly don’t spend our evenings staring at the walls. My wife enjoys cooking and painting and often attends evening classes in foreign languages. This is particularly useful as we often go abroad for our holidays. I collect stamps and I’m always busy with my collection. Both of us enjoy listening to the music and playing chess together．
Sometimes there are power cuts and we have no electricity in the house. This does not worry us; we just light candles and carry on with what we were doing before. Our friends, however, are lost------No television! -------So they don’t know what to do. On such evenings our house is very full; they all come to us. They all have a good time. Instead of sitting in silence in front of the television, everybody talks and plays games．
69. The couple have not got a television, because______．
A. they are not rich enough
B. they are strange people
C. they enjoy spending evenings in their own ways
D. they don’t know what to do when there are power cuts
70. At night when there is no electricity, the couple____．
A. have to look at the walls B. can do nothing but sit in silence
C. will have many visitors D. have to go out for candles
71. The best title for this passage is _____________.
A. Why Do We Need a Television? B. Candle! But No Electricity!
C. Different Friends, Different Hobbies D. We Go Without Televisions!
The following is a true story. It happened in the northern end of Queens land, Australia, where all kinds of animals live in the forest.
Lisa, a 33-year-old woman, went to prepare lunch in the kitchen, leaving Barney, her three-year-old son, playing by himself in the back garden.
Suddenly, a sharp cry of Barney came into the mother’s ears, and Lisa rushed into the backyard in a hurry and found a big snake entwining(缠绕) the little child with its terrible body and trying to eat the boy as its delicious dish! It was a boa(蟒蛇)! Lisa was terrified and quite angry. She made up her mind to save her son from the snake’s mouth.
It was fearless mother love that made Lisa forget what she faced. She took up an old hoe (锁头) from the ground and beat the boa with all her strength.
One...two... With the hoe, Lisa beat the snake repeatedly, but useless. The little boy’s voice and breath were getting weaker and weaker. Lisa’s heart was broken and she got nearly mad.
Suddenly Lisa put away the hoe and threw herself to the boa, opening her mouth and bit into the boa’s back as if trying to eat a rare steak(牛排). Lisa was really mad!
Blood was spurting(喷射) out of the boa’s body and covered most of Lisa’s body. The boa was so badly wounded that it let go of Barney and moved back into the forest hurriedly. It had never known how a woman had such terrible sharp teeth! On halfway home, the boa died.
It was fearless mother love that saved the little boy.
65. When she rushed into the back garden, Lisa found ______
A. a boa eating her son
B. her son was playing with a big snake
C. her son in danger of losing his life
D. her son was fighting with a boa
66. Lisa failed in fighting against the boa at first just because ______.
A. she was bit by the boa
B. the boa was too strong
C. the hoe was not sharp enough
D. she was afraid that she would hurt her son
67. Lisa bit the snake because ______.
A. she was mad
B. she thought her teeth were much sharper than the boa
C. her son was entwined by the boa
D. she hadn’t got any other way to fight with the snake
68. The best title for this passage is ______.
A. Mother and BoaB. Fearless Mother Love
C. A Boa and a BoyD. Saving a Boy from a Boa
第三部分阅读理解（共20题，每小题2分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C或D）中，选出最佳选项
New York, London, Paris and other big cities are exciting places to live in. There are many interesting things to see and to do. You can go to different kinds of museums, plays and films. You can also go shopping to buy things from all over the world.
But there are serious problems in big cities too. The expense of living is high, and there are too many people in some places of big cities. Every year, many people move to the cities because of the chances to find jobs, to study at good schools, and to receive good medical care. But sometimes these people cannot find work or a good place to live in. Also, too many people in a small space make it hard to keep the cities safe and clean.
Some people enjoy living in big cities, others do not. Before people move to a big city, they should think about the problems of living there.
61. In big cities people can ____________.
A. go to different kinds of museums B. see all kinds of plays and films
C. buy things from all over the worldD. A,B and C.
62. Which of the following is True?
A. Big cities are not safe and clean enough.
B. People can easily find a good place to live in.
C. All people like to live in big cities.
D. No one likes to live in big cities.
63. In the passage the writer advise people __________ .
A. to move to a big city
B. not to move to a big city
C. not to move to a big city without thinking about the problems
D. not to think too much about the problems before they move to a big city
64. Which is not talked about in the passage?
A. New York and London are big cities, and so is Paris.
B. Big cities are better than small cities.
C. Big cities are exciting places to live in.
D. Big cities have a lot of serious problems.