Are you nervous about climbing because you think it's too dangerous? Do you feel you're not fit enough to climb? Do you know how to start climbing?
Let's consider the idea that climbing is dangerous．Being afraid is natural, but if you use suitable ropes and other climbing equipments you will feel completely safe．Climbers are usually very careful because they know what they are doing is dangerous．Accidents happen, but when they do, they tend to attract a lot of publicity．As a result, people think there are many more accidents than there are in reality．
You cannot expect to start climbing straight away．Climbing is a challenge and challenges take time．It is necessary first of all that you achieve a good level of fitness．Begin as soon as you become interested in climbing: go to the gym, go swimming, take up jogging and continue to do so throughout your training period．
Discover as much as you can about climbing．Visit the library and find book, especially for beginners or buy climbing magazines and look for articles which describe your situation．Look up information on the Internet．Find out about equipment, methods and places to go．
Next, take a course on a climbing wall．There are plenty of climbing walls all over the country which have trained and qualified people as instructors．Call your local leisure centre to find out if there is one in your area. These training sessions are a quick way to get experience and you are likely to meet other beginners. After this, you can do an outside course of joining a club where you can meet climbers of all abilities and eventually join in group-climbing events.
At first you may not understand the importance of a good training period, but after you have completed your first climb and you are standing safely at the top of a rock feeling thrilled, then you will know it was the right thing to do.
| A．a doctor | B．an experienced climber |
| C．a beginner | D．a fitness instructor |
| A．begin by becoming fit |
| B．have the courage to meet the challenges |
| C．be aware of the causes of the accidents |
| D．do enough sports to get interested in climbing |
| A．join a club you like |
| B．gain controlled experience |
| C．become qualified instructors |
| D．take part in group-climbing events |
| A．the climb | B．the training |
| C．the equipment | D．the achievement |
| Bugs Bunny’s Hoping Carrot Hunt In this game you are Bugs Bunny. And your goal is to reach the finish line. A carrot truck has spilled its loads! Gather as many carrots as you can, and when you get the big carrot, you’ll be able to jump even higher! Instructions: Use the mouse to move Bugs left and right, and click to jump a gap while gathering carrots. Category: Action |
| Mushroom Madness You are in charge of protecting several farms. It’s up to you to make sure the mushrooms there reach maturity before the animals in the forest get their hands on them. Use your swatter(苍蝇拍) to fight off anything that comes near them; use heavier weapons if necessary. Instructions: Slap any creature that comes near your mushrooms. Use the mouse to control the swatter. If you see a “power up”, click to use it. Collect coins to buy upgrades after each level. Category: Action |
| Rudolph’s Kick and Fly Santa’s little helpers have worked all year preparing for Christmas. When Santa finally leaves to deliver his presents, the elves head down to the snowfields with Rudolph, the reindeer, to play their favorite game: Kick and Fly! Instructions: 1. Use the mouse to aim, and click to launch an elf. 2. While in the air, click again to catch, and to gain extra height. 3. The goal is to collect as many Christmas decorations as possible, and get 10 points for each one. Tips: If you’re heading towards an obstacle, be sure to avoid it! Category: Action |
| Click Flick Your mission is to save chicks falling from the sky. Use your trampoline(蹦床) to bounce them up and direct them into a nest. But hurry—if you don’t, many chicks will fall and lose their lives. There will be falling bombs, worms, nuts and eggs and you can get extra points by collecting the worms and nuts. Save the amount of chicks shown to unlock the next level! Instructions: Move the chicks left and right using keys or the mouse. Category: Adventure |
If a player wants to become stronger to drive animals away, he should try to _____.
| A．find a “power up” or use heavier weapons |
| B．collect falling bombs as quickly as possible |
| C．click the elf while it’s in the air |
| D．get the big carrot while running |
If a player has collected some worms and nuts, he _____.
| A．is playing Mushroom Madness |
| B．will lose the game quite soon |
| C．will get 10 points for each one |
| D．will get extra points and get ahead |
Which of the following statements about the games is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Bugs Bunny needs to be fast to win the game. |
| B．All four games are in the same category. |
| C．Players can only use the mouse to control the targets. |
| D．The number of elves decides whether a player wins. |
In which game are there obstacles you must avoid?
| A．Bugs Bunny’s Hopping Carrot Hunt. | B．Mushroom Madness. |
| C．Rudolph’s Kick and Fly. | D．Click Flick. |
A funny thing happened on the way to the communication revolution: we stopped talking to one another.
I was walking in the park with a friend recently, and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation. There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day and suddenly, I became invisible, absent from the conversation.
The telephone used to connect you to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communication technology is a tragedy to the closeness of human interaction. With email and instant messaging over the Internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another. With voice-mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone. If my mom has a question, I just leave the answer on her machine.
As almost every contact we can imagine between human beings gets automated, the emotional distance index goes up. You can’t even call a person to get the phone number of another person any more. Directory assistance is almost always fully automated.
I am not against modern technology. I own a cell phone, an ATM card, a voice-mail system, and an email account. Giving them up isn’t wise. They’re a great help to us. It's some of their possible consequences that make me feel uneasy.
More and more, I find myself hiding behind email to do a job meant for conversations or being relieved with voice-mail picking up because I don't really have time to talk. The industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier.Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
| A．The Advance of Modern Technology |
| B．The Consequences of Communication Technology |
| C．The Story of Communication Revolution |
| D．The Automation of Modern Communication |
Which is NOT TURE according to the passage?
| A．The author has decided not to use his phone when he is with his friend. |
| B．Modern technology makes it hard for people to have a face-to-face talk. |
| C．The limited use of communication device brings much inconvenience to the author. |
| D．The industry intended to keep people in touch is taking them away from each other. |
The writer feels that the use of modern communication is ______.
| A．satisfying | B．encouraging |
| C．disappointing | D．embarrassing |
The passage implies that ______.
| A．modern technology is bridging the people |
| B．modern technology is separating the people |
| C．modern technology is developing too fast |
| D．modern technology is interrupting people |
Ideas about polite behavior are different from one culture to another. Some societies, such as America and Australia for example, are mobile and very open. People here change jobs and move house quite often. As a result, they have a lot of relationships that often last only a short time, and they need to get to know people quickly. So it's normal to have friendly conversations with people that they have just met, and you can talk about things that other cultures would regard as personal.
On the other hand there are more crowded and less mobile societies where long-term relationships are more important. A Malaysian or Mexican business person, for example, will want to get to know you very well before he or she feels happy to start business. But when you do get to know each other, the relationship becomes much deeper than it would in a mobile society.
To Americans, both Europeans and Asians seem cool and formal at first. On the other hand, as a passenger from a less mobile society puts it, it's no fun spending several hours next to a stranger who wants to tell you all about his or her life and asks you all sorts of questions that you don't want to answer.
Cross-cultural differences aren't just a problem for travelers, but also for the flights that carry them. All flights want to provide the best service, but ideas about good service are different from place to place. This can be seen most clearly in the way that problems are dealt with.
Some societies have 'universalist' cultures. These societies strongly respect rules, and they treat every person and situation in basically the same way.
'Particularist' societies, on the other hand, also have rules, but they are less important than the society's unwrinen ideas about what is right or wrong for a particular situation or a particular person. So the normal rules are changed to fit the needs of the situation or the importance of the person.
This difference can cause problems. A traveler from a particularist society, India, is checking in for a flight in Germany, a country which has a universalist culture. The Indian traveler has too much luggage, but he explains that he has been away from home for a long time and the suitcases are full of presents for his family. He expects that the check-in official will understand his problem and will change the rules for him. The check-in official explains that if he was allowed to have too much luggage, it wouldn't be fair to the other passengers. But the traveler thinks this is unfair, because the other passengers don't have his problem.Often moving from one place to another makes people like Americarts and Australians
| A．like traveling better |
| B．easy to communicate with |
| C．difficult 1o make rcal friends |
| D．have a long-term relationship with their neighbors |
People like Malaysians prefer to associate with those
| A．who will tell them everything of their own |
| B．who want to do business with them |
| C．they know quite well |
| D．who are good at talking |
A person from a less mobile society will feel it_____ when a stranger keeps talking to him or her, and asking him or her questions.
| A．boring | B．friendly | C．normal | D．rough |
Which of the following is true about "particularist societies"?
| A．There is no rule for people to obey. |
| B．People obey the society's rules completely. |
| C．No one obeys the society's ruies though they have. |
| D．The society's rules can be changed with different persons or situations. |
The writer of the passage thinks that the Indian and the German have different ideas about rules because of different__________.
| A．interests | B．habits and customs |
| C．cultures | D．ways of life |
The year was 1932. Amelia Earhart was flying alone from North America to England in a small single-engined aeroplane. At midnight, several hours after she had left Newfoundland, she ran into bad weather. To make things worse, her altimeter (高度表) failed and she didn't know how high she was flying. At night, and in a storm, a pilot is in great difficulty without an altimeter. At times. her plane nearly plunged (冲) into the sea.
Just before dawn, there was further trouble. Amelia noticed flames coming from the engine. Would she be able to reach land? There was nothing to do except to keep going and to hope.
In the end, Amelia Earhart did reach Ireland, and for the courage she had shown, she was warmly welcomed in England and Europe. When she retumed to the United States, she was honored by President Hoover at a special dinner in the White House. From that time on, Amelia Earhart was famous.
What was so important about her flight? Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean alone, and she had set a record of fourteen hours and fifty-six minutes.
In the years that followed, Amelia Earhart made several flights across the United States, and on each occasion she set a new record for flying time. Amelia Earhart made these flights to show that women had a place in aviation (航空) and that air travel was useful.Which of the following statements is NOT the difficulty which Amelia Earhart met in her flight from north America to England?
| A．She was caught in a storm. |
| B．The altimeter went out of order. |
| C．Her engine went wrong. |
| D．She lost her direction. |
When Amelia Earhart saw flames coming from the engine. what did she do?
| A．She did nothing but pr ay for herself |
| B．She changed her direction and landed in Ireland. |
| C．She continued flying. |
| D．She lost hope of reaching land. |
According to the passage, what was Amelia Earhart's reason for making her flights?
| A．To set a new record for flying time. |
| B．To be the first woman to fly around the world. |
| C．To show that aviation was not just for men. |
| D．To become famous in the world. |
Which of the following statements was NOT mentioned?
A. She was the first woman who succeeded in flying across the Atlantic Oceanalone.
B. She showed great courage in overcoming the difficulties during the flight.
C She was warmly welcomed in England, Europe and the United States.
D. She made plans to fly around the world.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Amelia Earhart-First Across the Atlantic. |
| B．Amelia Earhart-Pioneer in Women's Aviation. |
| C．A New Record for Flying Time. |
| D．A Dangerous Flight from North America to England. |
The blue eyes that looked at him from outside the door were like the light through a maginifying glass (放大镜) when it is at its brightest and smallest, when paper and leaves begin to smoke.
"Hey . " said the man in the door. " Remember me? "
" Yes. " the boy said. whispering. "Rick. "
He felt so surprised to see Rick. All of Rick seemed to be shown in the eyes. With a strong feeling that ought to have hurt him.
" You knew me." Rick said. " You hadn't forgotten. "
" You're--just the same. " the boy said. and felt much thankful.
He seemed even to be wearing the same clothes, the same blue shirt and grey trousers. He was thin, but he was built to be lean; and he was still, or again. sunburnt. After everything, the slow white smile still showed the slight feeling of happiness.
" Let's look at you." Rick said, dropping into a chair. Then slowly he felt more at home, and he became once more just Rick as if nothing had happened. There were lines about his eyes. and deeper lines on his cheeks. but he looked like-just Rick, lined by sunfight and smiling.
" When I look at you." he said, " You make me think about me, for we look like each other. "
" Yes, " said the boy, eagerly, " they all think we both look like my grandfather. "On his return. Rick_______.
| A．had not changed much |
| B．looked very old |
| C．was much thinner than before |
| D．was wearing different clothes |
Rick and the boy are probably________.
| A．brothers | B．related |
| C．friends | D．neighbours |
You could describe Rick as________.
| A．old and friendly | B．old and nervous |
| C．thin and nervous | D．thin and friendly |
From the passage we can tell that the boy_____.
| A．was worried that Rick had forgotten him |
| B．was proud of what Rick had done |
| C．was pleased to see Rick |
| D．wondered where Rick had been |
Rick and the boy_______.
| A．had similar personalities |
| B．cared about each other |
| C．had lived in the same house |
| D．felt their friendship had changed |