ChristmasinAustraliaisoftenver-优题课

Growing up, I wanted to be just like my mom. She was kind. People always seemed to feel comfortable in her presence. For years, she was a volunteer in our community. I loved going to the local nursing home with her where she taught a ceramic class.
On one summer day, Mama told me to get changed and meet her at the car.
I had planned to spend the day at the lake with friends. Why did she have to ruin everything? I imagined the cool lake water. Irritated使烦燥，I climbed into the car and slammed the door shut. We sat in silence. I was too upset to make conversation.
“Tasha, would you like to know where we are going?” Mama asked calmly.
“No,” I said.
“We are going to volunteer at a children’s shelter today. I have been there before and I think it would benefit you,” she explained.
When we reached the shelter, Mama rang the doorbell. Moments later, we were greeted by a woman. She led us to the front room where all of the children were playing. I noticed a baby whose body was scarred with iron marks. I was told it was because she wouldn’t stop crying. The majority of the children had noticeable physical scars. Others hid their emotional wounds.
As I took in my surroundings, I felt a gentle tug猛拉，牵引on my shirt. I looked down to see a little girl looking up at me. “Hi. You want to play dolls with me?” she asked. I looked over at Mama for reinforcement. She smiled and nodded. I turned back and said, “Sure.” Her tiny hand reached up and held mine, as if to comfort me.
My mom taught me a valuable lesson that summer. I returned to the shelter with her several times. During those visits, some of the children shared their troubled pasts with me and I learned to be grateful for what I had. Today as I try to instill (逐渐灌输) these values in my own child, I reflect back to that experience. It was a time that I will never forget.
The author admired her mom for ________.

A．her kindness to others

B．her excellent teaching

C．her quality of honesty

D．her positive attitude to life

According to Paragraph 3, when she was asked to go out with her mom, the author was ________.

A．excited	B．angry
C．surprised	D．worried

From the passage we learn most children in the shelter ________.

A．were often punished by staff

B．weren’t allowed to go outside

C．were once treated badly

D．all suffered from mental illness

The underlined word “reinforcement” in the passage is closest in meaning to “________”.

A．truth	B．help
C．comfort	D．support

What lesson did the author learn from her experience?

A．To value what you take for granted.

B．To play with children is fun.

C．To love others is to love yourself.

D．To do as what your parents do.

Daniel Defoe (about 1660—1731) was an important novelist in the English literature. When he was young, he served as a soldier and had been to Spain, Italy, France and Germany. At the same time, he went in for politics. He cared much about the development of capitalism(资本主义). He had written a lot of articles against it and he was put into prison twice for that. It was not until that he was nearly sixty that he began to write the famous novel “Robinson Crusoe”, which was published in May, 1709. It spread so rapidly that the story was known to every household very soon.
“Robinson Crusoe” can be divided into three parts. The first part is about Crusoe’s three voyages, the second part about his hunting, hiding in caves farming and his hard struggles against nature on a small island, the third about the things which happened after his return from the island. The second part is the body of the novel, in which Robinson’s characters are clearly shown. Defoe wrote his novel in a simple style and his language is easy to understand. His novel writing set a milestone of the modern English novel. In his later part of life, He was in poor health and lived very poorly. He died on April 24, 1731.
Deniel Defoe was _______ and the writer of _______.

A．an Englishman, “A Tale of Two Cities”

B．an American, “A Million Pound Note”

C．a French, “The Lost Necklace”

D．an English, “Robinson Crusoe”

How old was he when he began to write his famous novel Robinson Crusoe?

A．He was in his sixties.

B．He was in his fifties.

C．He was over 60.

D．He was sixty.

Robinson Crusoe can be divided into ______ parts and the first is about _______.

A．three, his journeys by sea

B．three, his characters

C．two, his lonely life

D．four, his fame

“Every household” in this passage means ________.

A．all members of a family

B．all people

C．every building

D．persons living in the same house

What was Defoe’s contribution(贡献) to the English literature?

A．He wrote a very interesting story.

B．He made people happy while reading his story.

C．He set a milestone of the modern English novel.

D．He was active in politics and was against capitalism.

Organic food, once considered something that only health fanatics desired, is now a regular feature at most supermarkets. And that has created a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, you have a conventionally grown apple. On the other, you have one that’s organic. Both apples are firm, shiny and red. Both provide vitamins and fiber, and both are free of fat, sodium and cholesterol.
Conventionally grown food generally costs less, but is organic food a better choice? The advantages claimed for such foods over conventionally grown and sold food products are now being debated on a large scale. Supporters of organic foods ― a term whose meaning varies greatly ―are frequently telling the world that such products are safer and more nutritious than others.
The growing interest of consumers in the safety and nutritional quality of daily foods is a welcome development. However, much of this interest has been aroused by sweeping claims that the conventional food supply is unsafe or inadequate in meeting nutritional needs.
Almost daily, the public is surrounded by claims for “no-aging” diets, new vitamins and other wonder foods. There are numerous unsubstantiated(没证实的) reports that natural vitamins are superior to man-made ones, that fertilized eggs are nutritionally superior to unfertilized eggs, that untreated grains are better than those treated with insect spray and the like.
Although most of these claims are not supported by scientific evidence, large amounts of written material about the benefits of organic foods makes it difficult for people to separate fact from fiction. As a result, claims that eating a diet consisting of organically grown foods prevents or cures disease or provides other benefits to health have become widely advertised and form the basis for people’s opinion.
One thing that most organically grown food products seem to have in common is that they cost more than conventionally grown foods. But in many cases consumers are misled if they believe organic foods can maintain health and provide better nutritional quality than conventionally grown foods. So there is real cause for concern if consumers, particularly those with limited incomes, distrust the conventional food supply and buy only expensive organic foods instead.
According to Paragraph 2, which of the following statements about organic food is true?

A．It hasn’t been used until recent years.

B．It has no agreed definition.

C．It is popular among producers.

D．It is accepted by most nutritionists.

In Paragraph 4, treated grains are examples of ________.

A．healthier food	B．organic food
C．conventionally grown food	D．expensive food

It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．most doctors believe organic foods prevent disease or provide other benefits to health

B．organic foods are actually less nutritious than conventionally grown foods

C．people cannot separate fact from fiction because of the TV advertisements

D．organic foods cost more but are not necessarily better than conventionally grown foods

According to the passage, many consumers are attracted by organic foods because they _____.

A．want to try something new

B．have carefully researched the products

C．value food safety and nutrition

D．expect to save some money

What is the author’s attitude towards the claims of organic foods?

A．Doubtful.	B．Enthusiastic.
C．Supportive.	D．Uninterested.

English is an important global language, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to learn. Many experts have tried to make English easier for students to learn―but they weren’t always successful.
In 1930, Professor CK Ogden of Cambridge University invented Basic English. It had only 850 words (and just eighteen verbs) and Ogden said most people could learn it in just thirty hours. The problem was that people who learned Basic English could write and say simple messages, but they couldn’t understand the answers in “real” English! It was also impossible to explain a word if it wasn’t in the Basic English word list. For example, if you wanted a watermelon, you asked for “a large green fruit with the form of an egg, which has a sweet red inside and a good taste”!
RE Zachrisson, a university professor in Sweden, decided that the biggest problem for learners of English was spelling, so he invented a language called Anglic. Anglic was similar to English, but with much simpler spelling. “Father” became “faadher”, “new” became “nue’ and “years” became “yeerz”. Unfortunately for some students of English, Anglic never became popular.
Even easier is the language which ships’ captains use: it’s called “Seaspeak”. Seaspeak uses a few simple phrases for every possible situation. In Seaspeak, for example, you don’t say, “I’m sorry what did you say?” or “I didn’t understand, can you repeat that?” It’s just “Say again.” No more grammar!
In the age of international communication through the Internet who knows? ... a new form of English might appear. A large number of the world’s e-mails are in English and include examples of “NetLingo” like OIC (Oh, I see) and TTYL (Talk to you later). In another fifty years, English might not exist ... we will probably all speak fluent Internetish!
The best title for the passage would be ______.

A．Seaspeak	B．Basic English
C．Internetish	D．Easy English

It will take a person about ______ weeks to learn Basic English if he spends two hours
learning it every day.

A．six

B．four

C．two

D．three

According to Professor Zachrisson, what was the biggest problem for learners of English?

A．Grammar.	B．Vocabulary.
C．Speaking.	D．Spelling.

Which of the following is likely to be Anglic?

A．IOU	B．A graet batl.
C．Long time no see.	D．Two five, no lights.

What might happen to English in another fifty years?

A．It might be replaced by Internetish.

B．It might become a global language.

C．It might take the place of all other languages.

D．It might become more and more difficult.

Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important, of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.
The total amount of packaging has increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household's waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.
Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for burying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.
But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But it is also applied to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.
There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realize just how much unnecessary materials are collected. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.
What does the underlined phrase "over-consumption" refer to?

A．Using too much packaging.

B．Recycling too many wastes.

C．Having more material than is needed.

D．Making more products than necessary.

The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show_______.

A．the tendency of cutting household waste

B．the increase of packaging recycling

C．the fact of packaging overuse

D．the rapid growth of supermarkets

According to the text, recycling_________.

A．means burning packaging for energy

B．helps control the greenhouse effect

C．is the solution to gas shortage

D．leads to a waste of land

What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality.

B．Supermarkets care more about packaging.

C．Other products are better packaged than food.

D．It is improper to judge quality by packaging.

What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Needless material is mostly recycled.

B．Fighting wastefulness is difficult.

C．People like collecting recyclable wastes.

D．The author is proud of their consumer culture.