Lizhadbeenbleedingforalongtime-优题课

A bargain is something offered at a low and advantageous price. A more recent definition is: a bargain is a dirty trick to force money out of the pockets of silly and innocent people.
The cost of producing a new - for example - toothpaste would make 80p the proper price for it, so we will market it at £1.20. It is not a bad toothpaste, and as people like to try new things it will sell well to start with; but the attraction of novelty soon fades, so sales will fall. When that happens we will reduce the price to £1.15. And we will turn it into a bargain by printing 5p OFF all over it.
Sometimes it is not 5p OFF but 1p OFF. What breathtaking rudeness to advertise 1p OFF your soap or washing powder or whatever! Even the poorest old-age pensioner ought to regard this as an insult(侮辱), but he doesn’t. A bargain must not be missed. People say one has to have washing powder (or whatever) and one might as well buy it a penny cheaper.
The real danger starts when unnecessary things become ‘bargains’. Many people just cannot resist bargains. Provided they think they are getting a bargain they will buy clothes they will never wear or furniture they have no space for. Once I heard of a man who bought an electric saw as a bargain and cut off two of his fingers the next day. But he had no regrets: the saw had been truly cheap.
Quite a few people actually believe that they make money on such bargains. A lady once told me: “I’ve had a lucky day today. I bought a dress for £120, reduced from £400; and I bought a beautiful Persian carpet for £600, reduced from £900.” It will never occur to her that she has actually wasted £720. She feels as though she had made £580. She also feels, I am sure, that if she had more time for shopping, she could make a living out of it.
Some people buy in large quantities because it is cheaper. Once a couple bought enough sugar for their lifetime and the lifetime of their children and grandchildren. They thought it a bargain not to be missed. When the sugar arrived they didn’t know where to store it – until they realized that their toilet was a very spacious one. So that was where they piled up their sugar. Not only did their guests feel rather strange whenever they were offered sugar to put into their coffee, but the toilet became extremely sticky.
To offer bargains is a commercial trick to make the poor poorer. When greedy fools fall for this trick, it serves them right.
Which word best describes the language style of the passage?

A．Polite.	B．Foolish.
C．Humorous.	D．Serious.

What does the underlined word “novelty” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Good quality.	B．Low price.
C．Newness.	D．Curiosity.

How does the author feel about 1p OFF a product?

A．It’s a gift for poor people.

B．It’s an offense to shoppers.

C．It’s a bargain worth trying.

D．It’s a real reduction in price.

Which statement will the author probably agree with?

A．Bargains are things people don’t really need.

B．Bargains are often real cheap products.

C．Bargains help people make a living.

D．Bargains play tricks on people.

Hunger is the greatest motive for the inexperienced cook. But many people are now worried that we are producing a generation without the slightest idea of how to cook—a generation that is frightened to cook. I have just received a handout from Focus on Food, which is running a competition to get children back into the kitchen. Has television cooking become a replacement for the real thing? Is this an age where famous professional cooks have turned cooking into a sort of show, with dishes far too difficult for the beginner to copy?
I decided to ask my oldest daughter, Miranda, for her opinion. Are children learning enough about the importance of good cooking? Do they know cooking is a basic life skill? Sociology and other “new” subjects are all very well, but without the ability to cook, or to understand the pleasure and principles of good food and its relationship to good health, are we really preparing them for adult life?
Miranda started her cooking at the age of nine, when she decided to enter the Sainsbury’s Future Cook competition. She was motivated by a different kind of greed: the first prize—a trip to Disney World.
The problem, from the parental point of view, was that if she made it through to the regional(区域性的) finals, she would have to cook her meal in front of the judges. Some 30,000 children entered and she made it through as the youngest regional finalist. Now she had to learn to cook. Her hands were not even big enough to hold the knife and slice the onions. Six Saturdays running we ate the same lunch—Mozzarella meatballs in fresh tomato juice and blueberry.
First, she cooked by my side, then alone with timings and instructions. Finally, she went alone against the clock. The kitchen looked like a battlefield, but she had gained victory. The tiny be-capped figure then stood in an unknown Bristol hotel, looking like a professional who had been at the stove for years. She didn’t win, but she came home with £50 and the most valuable part of them all: confidence.
The competition run by Focus on Food is intended for _________.

A．children	B．parents
C．teachers	D．chefs

Why does the writer think cooking is so important?

A．It is an easy way to keep healthy.

B．It helps develop relationships.

C．It is a necessary skill for life.

D．It can save a lot of money.

The writer’s family had the same lunch on six Saturdays because __________.

A．the family stuck to healthy food

B．Miranda had to practise cooking

C．the dish was the family’s only food

D．the dish was Miranda’s favorite meal

What did Miranda gain from the competition?

A．A trip to Disney World.

B．Support from friends.

C．A medal for the winner.

D．Belief in herself.

Your car is a necessary part of your life. You use it every day. Of course, you want to hold on to it so you make sure it has the latest alarm and immobilizer(汽车防盗器). But despite all these, cars like yours are still stolen every day. In fact, in this country, one car is stolen almost every minute! And if your car is stolen, you only have a 50:50 chance of seeing it again.
Each year, car crime costs nearly £3 billion. Of course, if you’re insured, you won’t lose out, or will you? Firstly, you will have to pay extra insurance later on, and then you may not be offered the full amount by the agent. You will probably have to hire a car and you will also lose the value of the contents and accessories(配件) in the car.
Now comes the solution. An RAC Trackstar system, hidden in one of 47 possible secret locations(位置) in your car, is the key of our system. If your car is stolen, radio signals are sent at twenty-second intervals from the car to the RAC Trackstar National Control Center via a satellite network. Then a computer gives the vehicle’s exact location, speed and direction.
The RAC Trackstar National Control Center, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, will immediately inform the police in the area where the car is located. Because the police receive information every twenty seconds, they will always know the vehicle’s location. Once the thief has been arrested, your car will be returned to you.
RAC Trackstar is unique in being able to provide the National Control Center with details of the exact location of your car, its speed and direction. And speed is the key to successful recovery of a stolen vehicle. RAC Trackstar Control will immediately tell the police if you report your car stolen and under the 24-hour Guardian Option. It will also tell you if your car has been stolen. RAC Trackstar’s constant updates mean the police are kept informed of the car’s location. All these greatly improve your chances of seeing your car again.
If your car is stolen, you will have to _____.

A．hire a new car

B．pay more insurance

C．buy a RAC Trackstar system

D．inform the National Control Center

The Trackstar system can tell the police _____.

A．where the car is

B．how the car is stolen

C．who the thief is

D．what brand the car is

The underlined word “It” in the last paragraph refers to ______.

A．the local police station

B．the Guardian Option

C．the insurance company

D．the RAC Trackstar Control

According to the passage, people with RAC Trackstar ______.

A．are more likely to get the stolen cars back

B．have less chance of being in an accident

C．seldom get their vehicles damaged

D．automatically find directions

Do you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since researches have shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes.
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.
There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial(空间的) tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries—why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses(胎儿) are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children as young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier (障碍物) before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research. www..com
If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t. “The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it.” says a biologist.
Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

A．Women’s brain is 10% less than men’s

B．Grey matter plays the same role as white matter.

C．Grey matter controls thinking in the brain.

D．Both sexes have the same amount of white matter.

What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs?

A．Women prefer doing many things at a time.

B．Men do better dealing with one job at a time.

C．Women do not need to tell directions.

D．Men have weaker spatial abilities.

Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph?

A．Young boys may be stronger than young girls.

B．More women take up jobs requiring speech skills.

C．Women may have stronger feelings than men.

D．Our ancestors needed more spatial skills.

What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?

A．Defensive.	B．Persuasive.
C．Supportive.	D．Objective.

It was a cold winter. The day my husband fell to his death, it started to snow, just like any November day. His body, when I found it, was lightly covered with snow. It snowed almost every day for the next four months, while I sat on the couch and watched it pile up. One morning, I shuffled downstairs and was surprised to see a snow remover clearing my driveway and the bent back of a woman shoveling(铲) my walk. I dropped to my knees, crawled through the living room. And back up stairs so those good people would not see me. I was embarrassed. My first thought was, how would I ever repay them? I didn’t have the strength to brush my hair let alone shovel someone’s walk.
Before John’s death, I felt proud that I rarely asked for favors. I identified myself by my competence and independence. So who was I if I was no longer capable and busy? How could I respect myself if I just sat on the couch every day and watched the snow fall?
Learning to receive the love and support from others wasn’t easy. Friends cooked for me and I cried because I couldn’t even help them set the table. Finally, my friend Kathy said, “Mary, cooking for you isn’t a burden for me; it makes me feel good to be able to do something for you.”
Over and over, I heard similar words from the people who supported me during those dark days. One wise man told me, “You aren’t doing nothing because being fully open to your sorrow may be the hardest work you will ever do.”
I am not the person I once was, but in many ways I have changed for the better. I’ve been surprised to learn that there is incredible freedom coming form facing one’s worst fear and walking away whole. I believe there is strength, for sure, in accepting a dark period of our life.
Which of the following is True according to the passage?

A．The writer’s friend was unwilling to cook for her.

B．The writer had been busy with her life before

C．The writer recovered from her sorrow quickly with his friend’s help.

D．The day her husband died, it was snowing heavily.

We can describe the writer before her husband died as the following EXCEPT __

A．hard-working	B．independent
C．smart	D．capable

We can infer from the passage that ____________.

A．the writer found her husband immediately he fell off the roof

B．the writer became strong-willed immediately after John's death

C．the people around the writer were friendly and supported her

D．before John’s death, the writer never asked others for help

A．frightened	B．delighted
C．annoyed	D．Excited