It was a cold December and Mrs. Bell wanted to do a lot of shopping. She waited until it was Saturday, when her husband was free, and she took him to the shops with her to pay for everything and to carry for her what she had bought. They went to a lot of shops, and Mrs. Bell bought everything she could think of.
She often stopped and said, “Look, Peter! Isn’t that beautiful?
“All right, my dear. How much is it?” answered Mr. Bell, and then he took money out to buy it for her.
It was almost dark when they came out of the last shop, and Mr. Bell was tired. He was thinking about a nice drink by the side of a warm fire home. Suddenly his wife looked up at the sky and said, “Look at that beautiful moon, Peter!”
Without stopping, Mr. Bell answered at once. “All right, dear. How much is it?” Then he took his wallet out of his pocket.Mrs. Bell took her husband to the shops because ．
| A．he liked beautiful things |
| B．he liked to do shopping too. |
| C．she wanted him to pay money |
| D．he was always free |
Mrs. Bell bought in the shops.
| A．nothing | B．a drink |
| C．the most beautiful thing | D．a number of things |
Mr. Bell shopping.
| A．was addicted to | B．was thinking about |
| C．was tired of | D．was very interested in |
According to the last paragraph, we know Mr. Bell .
| A．wanted to buy the moon |
| B．did not really know what his wife was saying |
| C．was a millionaire |
| D．did not like the idea of buying the moon |
Many a online shopper stayed up until 2 am on Sunday, looking through the Internet to buy products being sold at half price before they could be snapped up（be bought）by other shoppers. Tens of millions of the Internet users were crazy to take advantage of the halfprice promotion, started by the ecommerce(电子商务) giant Alibaba Group on Sunday, Nov. 11, which is known as Singles’ Day in China, and is the Chinese answer to Cyber Monday in the United States.
By 7 pm on Sunday, 14.1 billion yuan’s worth of sales was made on tmall. com and taobao. com. That could make Singles’ Day the biggest ecommerce sales day on record. The research company comScore said US online retailers (零售商) saw $ 1.25 billion of sales during last year’s Cyber Monday, the day after Thanksgiving weekend and the busiest day for online retailers as US shoppers start to prepare for Christmas.
Singles’ Day originated with university students, and was later adopted by ecommerce companies as a promotional opportunity. Ecommerce companies, including Jingdong Mall and Amazon China, also took part in the promotion.“ In the past, people only shopped online occasionally, but now, online shopping is a lifestyle accepted by many，” said Zhang Yong, Tmall president.
Alibaba began to hold Singles’ Day promotions in 2009, and last year, its sales totaled 5.2 billion yuan.“I don’t know whether we would lose money, but I don’t think we could earn much on this day by selling goods at half price，” said Hao Hongfeng, chairman of Beijing Jiuxian ECommerce, a liquor retailer in Beijing who took part in the event. He said it is a good opportunity for online retailers to get their names known.Who first introduced Singles’ Day to the public?
| A．Some college students. |
| B．The online shoppers. |
| C．Researchers in comScore. |
| D．The online retailers. |
Why were the online retailers so active in the promotion?
| A．To make their names known to more people. |
| B．To make a lot more money. |
| C．To make more business friends through the event. |
| D．To sell more products. |
What’s the secret behind the success of this promotion?
| A．The quality of the products. |
| B．The fame of the retailers. |
| C．The favorable price. |
| D．The aftersales service. |
Which title do you think is more suitable for this article?
| A．Chinese Shopping Style |
| B．The Origin of Singles’ Day |
| C．Online Purchasing Power |
| D．A Craze for Online Promotion |
Enter your kid’s photo today and win! We’re giving away 52 weekly $250 prizes from Readers’ Choice votes. Plus, our editors will select one entry(参赛作品) to win our grand prize of $7,000.
Official Contest Rules
No purchase necessary to enter or win.
The Kid of the Year Photo Contest entry period begins at 12：00 am March 23,2013, and ends December 21, 2013 (the “Entry Period”). Entries must be received by 9：00 pm on December 21,2013 (“Entry Deadline”). Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.
SPONSOR: Meredith Corporation, 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa.
ENTRY: There will be two methods of entry.
Share My Entry：
Visit http：//www.parents.com/photos/photocontests1/kidoftheyear and click the button to enter.
Facebook Entry：
Visit Facebook. com/Parents Magazine and click the Kid of 2012 tab (选项卡)．
Then complete the registration form and follow the instructions to upload one album of up to six photos of your child aged three months to eight years. You may provide one description and one album title that will be applied to all photos. Photos, without any brand names or trademarks, must be taken by participants, nonprofessional, unpublished and may not have won any prize or award. Photos must be.jpeg or.bmp image formats (格式) and cannot be over 3 MB.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, supported or run by, or associated with Facebook.
You are providing your information to Parents Magazine and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used to run the promotion and register for Parents. com.
Photos must not contain material that infringes (侵犯) the rights of another, including but not limited to privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright infringement. Photos must not contain brand names or trademarks.
LIMIT: One entry per household, per eligible (有资格的) child, per week. One weekly prize per child. For entries of more than one eligible child in the household, the entry process must be completed separately for each child. No group entries.To enter the contest, photos must ________.
| A．have won some prize or award |
| B．contain parents’ personal information |
| C．contain brand names or trademarks |
| D．be taken by nonprofessional participants |
Linda, a mother with sevenyearold twins, wants to enter the contest. She must ________.
| A．complete the entry process separately for each of her kids |
| B．go to Meredith Corporation to fill out the registration forms |
| C．provide a description and an album title for the kid’s photos |
| D．provide the information to Facebook if she chooses Facebook Entry |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
| A．you should buy something first before you enter the contest |
| B．you should send your entry before 9：00 pm on December 21,2013 |
| C．your entry will not be returned even if you don’t win the contest |
| D．the editors of the contest will decide who will win the 20,000 dollars in prizes |
The purpose of the passage is ________.
| A．to advertise the website Facebook. com |
| B．to encourage parents with children to enter a photo contest |
| C．to introduce two methods of entering a photo contest |
| D．to attract photographers’ interest in a photo contest |
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 looked down on the computer and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I 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(备用) computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They’re 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’s 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 word 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.The best title for the article is _______.
| A．When the Computer Is Down |
| B．The Most Frightening Words |
| C．The Computer of the Airport |
| D．Asking the Computer |
What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?
| A．She could sell a ticket. |
| B．She could write out a ticket. |
| C．She could answer the passengers’ questions. |
| D．She could do nothing. |
Why do you think they had not a backup computer?
| A．Because it was easy down |
| B．Because it was very expensive. |
| C．Because it was not advanced enough. |
| D．Because it was not as big as the main computer. |
The last paragraph suggests that _______.
| A．a modern computer won’t be down. |
| B．computers can take the place of humans |
| C．sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people |
| D．there will be great changes in computers |
Thomas Alva Edison was awarded more patents on inventions than any other American. When he died in 1931, Americans wondered how they could best show their respect for him. One suggestion was that the nation observe a minute or two of total blackout. All electric power would be shut off in homes, streets, and factories. Perhaps this suggested plan made Americans realize fully what Edison and his inventions mean to them. Electric power was too important to the country. Shutting it off for even a short time would have led to complete confusion. A blackout was impossible.
On the day of Edison's funeral, many people silently dimmed their lights. In this way they honored the man who had done more than anyone else to put the great force of electricity at his countrymen's fingertips.This selection says that Thomas Edison ________.
| A．was the only important American inventor |
| B．received the first American patent |
| C．received more patents than any other American |
| D．was the first American inventor |
People decided to honor Edison when ________.
| A．he made the first electric light |
| B．electric power was 100 years |
| C．the country realized electricity's importance |
| D．he died in 1931 |
The suggested plan was to ________.
| A．turn off the lights in factories and schools |
| B．observe a few minutes of total silence |
| C．dim all electric lights |
| D．shut off all electricity for a short time |
It gives me great pleasure today to say a few words in praise of a man we will all miss very much. To be honest, I can't imagine we will do without him when he's gone.
Bill Masters almost single-handed built up our sales force in the Houston area and developed the market position that we enjoy today. In only six years, he has brought the firm from a very low fifth position in the area sales to the point where we now outsell all but one of our competitors. Not only have we got 37 per cent of the market under Bill's leadership; we are increasing our share with each passing month.
As you know, the company has moved Bill to northern California to work his sales magic in one of this company's most competitive(竞争的) areas. But we know that if anyone can do it, Bill Masters can, and I know you all join me in wishing him the best of luck in his new work.The speech was made _______.
| A．at a welcome meeting |
| B．at the opening of a new school term |
| C．when somebody was leaving |
| D．when they had a new manager |
How long did Masters worked there?
| A．37 years | B．less than 5 years |
| C．about six years | D．since he began to work |
When Bill started to work in Houston area, he had _______to help him.
| A．many people | B．nobody |
| C．about 37 people | D．very few people |
Bill increased the company's sale _______.
| A．by 37 per cent every month |
| B．to the second largest in the area |
| C．to be the fifth largest in the area |
| D．five times as much as before |