A university graduate described as a “respectable and intelligent” woman is seeking professional help after being convicted of （证明有……罪）shoplifting for the second time in six months.
Ana Luz, recently studying for her Phd, has been told she could end up behind bars unless she can control the desire to steal from shops .
Luz ,who lives with her partner in Fitzwilliam Road ,Cambridge ,admitted stealing clothes worth ￡9.95 from John Lewis in Oxford Street ,London ,on March 9.
Phillip Lemoyne ,prosecuting（起诉）,said Luz selected some clothes from a display and took them to the ladies’ toilet in the store .When she came out again she was wearing one of the skirts she had selected ,having taken off the anti-theft security alarms（防盗警报装置）.
She was stopped and caught after leaving the store without paying , Mr. Lemoyne said.
He added that she was upset on her arrest and apologized for her actions.
Luz,28, was said to have been convicted of shoplifting by Cambridge judges last October ,but Morag Duff, defending ,said she had never been in trouble with the police before that .
“She is ashamed and embarrassed but doesn’t really have any explanation why she did this ,” Miss Duff said . “She didn’t intend to steal when she went into the store .She is at a loss to explain it. She is otherwise a very respectable and intelligent young lady .She went to her doctor and asked for advice because she wants to know if there is anything in particular that caused her to do this.”
Judge David Azan fined Luz ￡ 50, and warned : “You’ve got a criminal record .If you carry on like this ,you will end up in prison ,which will ruin your bright future you may have.”
Luz achieved a degree in design at university in her native Spain ,went on to a famous university in Berlin , Germany for her master’s degree and is now studying for a PhD at Cambridge University ,UK.What is Ana Luz’s nationality?
| A．American. | B．British. |
| C．Spanish. | D．German. |
What does the underlined sentence “She is at a loss to explain it” mean?
| A．In her opinion it was a loss to the clothes shops where she stole things . |
| B．She doesn’t have any idea why she has the desire to steal from shops . |
| C．She thinks it is a loss for her to explain why she stole things from shops. |
| D．Personally she feels ashamed and embarrassed for her shoplifting actions. |
Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word “shoplifting” used in the passage?
| A．Carrying goods in a lift for a shop. |
| B．Taking goods to the ladies’ toilet . |
| C．Selecting some goods from a display. |
| D．Taking goods from a shop without paying. |
From the passage we can learn that .
| A．Ana Luz is already got her PhD at Cambridge University ,UK |
| B．Ana Luz is ashamed and embarrassed and knows why she often did so |
| C．the university graduate will be put in prison if she steals in shops once more |
| D．Phillip Lemoyne is the “respectable and intelligent” woman’s defense lawyer |
The most frightening words in the English language are, “Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.”
“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”
“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”
I noticed every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I looked down on the computer and asked her, “What do all you people do?”
“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.”
“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”
“That’s good, sir.”
“How long will the computer be down? I wanted to know.”
“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There’s no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it’s down it won’t answer us.”
After the girl told me they had no backup computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer—What about your planes? They are still flying, aren’t they?”
“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”
“Maybe I could, just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he is flying to Washington,” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”
“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she said, pointing at the dark screen. “Only ‘IT’ knows. It can’t tell me.”
By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The words soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.Where do you often hear the frightening words “Our computer is down”?
| A．at the airport. | B．At the gate. |
| C．On business | D．In the ticket office |
What could the girl in the ticket office do without asking the computer?
| A．She could do nothing. |
| B．She could write out a ticket. |
| C．She could still sell a ticket. |
| D．She could answer passengers’ questions. |
What does the underlined word “down” in Paragraph 1 mean?
| A．White | B．Broken | C．Black | D．Dark |
We can learn from the last paragraph that .
| A．a modern computer won’t be down |
| B．computers can take the place of human |
| C．there will be great changes in computers |
| D．sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people |
The best title for the article is .
| A．Asking the Computer |
| B．When the Computer Is Down |
| C．The Computer of the Airport |
| D．The Most Frightening Words |
With golden sunshine and a gentle breeze (微风), autumn is the most beautiful seasons in the year. This is a great time to go outside and have fun. Go to a valley to see red maple trees , go and pick fruit in an orchard or find an open field to fly your kite in.
However, for many high school students, these great activities may be just a dream. With plenty of work to do, they spend all their hours indoors, struggling for a high mark in their exams. Of course, study is one of the most important things for teenagers. But life is definitely much more than that.
Sometimes we spend so much time studying that we forget how to make life wonderful. In doing so, we lose the real purpose of life —to be a valuable and happy person. To enjoy just how great it is to be alive, we have to put down our books and pens and look around us. Students, take some exercise to improve your health, talk with your parents and friends for understanding and walk around outside to refresh (振作) your body and mind.
Going out and enjoying the beautiful countryside often helps our creativity in our work. Chinese craftsman, Lu Ban created a saw to help woodworkers. But if he hadn't walked outside, he would not have been inspired by a kind of toothed (锯齿状的) grass. We could also suppose if Newton hadn't rested under that apple tree, then he wouldn't have been hit by an apple, and his classic (经典的) theories would not have come out.
Going out is not only a break from hard work, but a chance to add to life experience. So come on, give your brain a good rest. Step out of the books and get your bag ready for an autumn outing. We are sure you will get much more than knowledge from the exciting journey.In which paragraph does the writer make a summary about his opinion?
| A．Paragraph 1. | B．Paragraph 2. |
| C．Paragraph 5. | D．Paragraph 4. |
Why is going out a dream for many high school students?
| A．They are unhappy to do so. |
| B．Their parents don’t allow them to do so. |
| C．They have too much work to do for getting high marks in the exams. |
| D．They think study is the most important thing for them. |
Which of the following ISN’T the reason for high school students’ going out?
| A．To improve their health. |
| B．To invent a new product. |
| C．To develop their creativity. |
| D．To refresh themselves. |
The passage is developed mainly by______________.
| A．describing the beautiful scenery in Autumn |
| B．pointing out the present situation of high school students |
| C．making predictions (做预测) |
| D．reasoning and giving examples |
What can you learn from the passage?
| A．We should take an optimistic attitude towards life. |
| B．Nature is power. |
| C．Going out can make high school students get more. |
| D．The author isn’t happy with our education at all. |
Want to stay away from colds? Put on a happy face.
Compared to unhappy people, those who are cheerful and relaxed are less likely to suffer from colds, according to a new study. It's possible that being happy helps the body fight illnesses, say the researchers from New York University.
“It seems that positive(积极的) feelings may reduce (减少) the danger of illness,” said the study's chief researcher Sheldon Cohen.
In an earlier study, Cohen found that people who were cheerful and lively caught coughs and colds less often. People who showed feelings were also less likely to tell their doctors that they felt ill.
In this study, Cohen's interviewed 193 adults every day for two weeks. During the interviews, the people told researchers about the happy or sad feelings they had that day. After the two weeks, the people were given colds by doctors and had to stay alone in a room for six days.
The result showed that everyone in the study was equally(相等地) likely to get ill. But for people who said they felt happy during the research period, their illness was less serious and lasted for a shorter time.
Cohen believes that when people experience positive feelings, their body may produce a chemical that helps fight illness and disease. So if you are worried about your health, look on the bright side more often.Which of the following was NOT a part of the study?
| A．People talked about their feelings every day. |
| B．People were kept alone for six days. |
| C．People were given colds by doctors. |
| D．People were made to feel unhappy. |
What did the study find?
| A．People who felt happy never got ill. |
| B．People's feelings didn't influence their health. |
| C．People with good feelings became ill more easily. |
| D．People with positive feelings had less serious illnesses.. |
According to Cohen, which of the following may help fight illness?
| A．Eating. | B．Crying. | C．Laughing. | D．Sleeping. |
This passage is a/an_________.
| A．advertisement | B．newspaper report |
| C．story | D．scientist's diary |
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．Smiles can fight colds | B．Cause of colds found |
| C．The danger of colds | D．How people get sick |
One day a teacher was giving her young students a lesson on how the government works. She was trying to explain the principle(原理) of income tax（所得税）.“You see,” she began, speaking slowly and carefully, “Each person who works must pay part of his or her salary( 薪水) to the government. If you make a high salary, your taxes are high. If you don’t make much money, your taxes are low.”“Is that clear?” she asked. “Does everyone understand the meaning of income tax?”. All the students nodded.“Are there any questions? ”sheasked. All the students shook their heads.“Very good!”she said. “Now, I would like you to take a piece of paper and write a short composition on the subject of income tax.”
Little Joey was a slow learner. He had lots of problems with spelling and grammar, but this time he at least seemed to understand the task. He took his pen and after a few minutes, he handed the teacher the following composition: Once I had a dog. His name was Tax. I opened the door and in come Tax.One day the teacher was trying to explain_________.
| A．that everyone should pay income tax |
| B．how the government was formed |
| C．the basic principle of income tax |
| D．how much tax one should pay for his or her income |
After the teacher’s explanation,_________.
| A．each student seemed to understand the meaning of income tax |
| B．many of the students were still puzzled |
| C．all the students understood the meaning of income tax |
| D．all the students shook their heads |
The students were asked to ________.
| A．say something about income tax |
| B．answer some questions about income tax |
| C．write a composition on income tax |
| D．explain the principle of income tax |
Little Joey____________.
| A．was clear about the subject |
| B．understood what income tax meant |
| C．understood the teacher’s meaning |
| D．wrote a short composition about his dog |
From the passage we know_______.
| A．Joey’s composition was close to the topic |
| B．“income tax” and “in come Tax” sounds alike |
| C．little Joey was very clever |
| D．“income tax” share the same meaning with “in come Tax” |
Every year, a handful of new words enter the world’s collective vocabulary, but only one has the honor of being named Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year. And this year’s top honor goes to “selfie”.
The frequency of the word selfie used in the English language has increased by 17,000 per cent since this time last year. This figure is calculated by Oxford Dictionaries using a research program which collects around 150 million English words currently in use from around the web every month. To qualify, a word need not have been invented within the past 12 months but it does need to stand out or become notable at that time.
Selfie is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as: “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smart phone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.” Oxford Dictionaries said the earliest known usage is an Australian online forum post in 2002. A man posted a picture of injuries to his face when he tripped over some steps. He apologized for the fact that the picture was out of focus, saying that it was not because he was drunk but because it was a selfie.
Judy Pearsall, editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries, said: “Using the Oxford Dictionaries language research program, we can see a phenomenal upward trend in the use of selfie in 2013, and this helped to win its selection as Word of the Year.” She also added: “Social media sites helped to popularize the term, with selfie appearing on the photo-sharing website Flicker as early as 2004, but usage wasn’t widespread until around 2012, when selfie was being used commonly in mainstream media sources.”
Selfies have taken the world by storm. Everyone from the first family to ordinary people has taken the time to pose for a selfie. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jennifer Aniston have all showed their new haircuts with selfies this year. Selfie was added to the Oxford Dictionaries online in August, but not yet in the Oxford English.What does this passage mainly talk about?
| A．The definition of the word “Selfie”. |
| B．The widespread usage of the word “Selfie” in 2012. |
| C．“Selfie” has been chosen as the Word of the Year of 2013. |
| D．“Selfie” began to be used in the Oxford English. |
What can we learn from the passage about the word Selfie?
| A．Social media sites helped to popularize the word Selfie. |
| B．The frequency of the word “selfie” has increased to 17,000 % since 2004. |
| C．Celebrities and the first family have all showed their new haircuts with selfies. |
| D．The earliest known usage of “selfie” was a man who was drunk. |
The word “selfie” was chosen the Word of the Year by _____________.
| A．A social media website. |
| B．The photo-sharing website Flicker. |
| C．A research program by Oxford Dictionaries. |
| D．People who take picture using a smart phone or webcam. |
In which column of a newspaper can we find this article?
| A．Arts | B．Entertainment |
| C．Science | D．Culture |