Modern life is comfortable. Meanwhile, it is costly. As price and building costs keep rising, the do-it-yourself (DIY) trend (趋势) in the U.S. continues to grow.
“We need furniture for our living-room,” says John Ross, “and we just didn’t have enough money to buy it. So we decide to try making a few tables and chairs.” John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Rosses took a 2-week course for $280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.
Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full-time job at home as well as in a shoe-making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $420. “I was deeply upset about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course. I should be able to fix the car by myself.”
John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can to save money so they can fight the high cost of living.
If you want to become a “do-it-yourselfer”, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who don’t have time to take the course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.We can learn from the second paragraph that ______.
| A．many young people have difficulty building a house |
| B．many newly married people take DIY courses for fun |
| C．John and his wife make or repair things to save money |
| D．John and his wife build their furniture to improve the quality of life |
When the writer says that Jim has a full-time job at home, he means Jim ______.
| A．keeps house and looks after his children |
| B．does extra work at night |
| C．does his own car and home repairs |
| D．makes shoes in his home |
Jim Hatfield decided to become a do-it-yourselfer when ______.
| A．he had to raise the children all by himself |
| B．his car repairs cost too much |
| C．he could not possibly do two jobs |
| D．The car repair class wasn’t helpful |
Deserts are found where there is little rainfall or where rain for a whole year falls in only a few weeks’ time. Ten inches of rain may be enough for many plants to survive if the rain is spread throughout the year. If it falls within one or two months and the rest of the year is dry, those plants may die and a desert may form.
Sand begins as tiny pieces of rock that get smaller and smaller as wind and weather wear them down. Sand dunes（沙丘）are formed as winds move the sand across the desert. Bit by bit, the dunes grow over the years, always moving with the winds and changing the shape. Most of them are only a few feet tall, but they can grow to be several hundred feet high.
There is, however, much more to a desert than sand. In the deserts of the southwestern United States, cliffs（悬崖）and deep valleys were formed from thick mud that once lay beneath a sea more than millions of years ago. Over the centuries, the water dried up. Wind, sand, rain, heat and cold all wore away at the remaining rocks. The faces of the desert mountains are always changing—very, very slowly—as these forces of nature continue to work on the rock.
Most deserts have a surprising variety of life. There are plants, animals and insects that have adapted to life in the desert. During the heat of the day, a visitor may see very few signs of living things, but as the air begins to cool in the evening, the desert comes to life. As the sun begins to rise again in the sky, the desert once again becomes quiet and lonely.Many plants may survive in deserts when ________.
| A．the rain is spread out in a year | B．the rain falls only in a few weeks |
| C．there is little rain in a year | D．it is dry all the year round |
Sand dunes are formed when _______.
| A．sand piles up gradually | B．there is plenty of rain in a year |
| C．the sea has dried up over the years | D．pieces of rock get smaller |
The underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably means that in a desert there is ______.
| A．too much sand | B．more sand than before |
| C．nothing except sand | D．something else besides sand |
It can be learned from the text that in a desert _______.
| A．there is no rainfall throughout the year |
| B．life exists in rough conditions |
| C．all sand dunes are a few feet high |
| D．rocks are worn away only by wind and heat |
HOW TO QUIT SMOKING
When thinking about quitting…
List all the reasons why you want to quit. Every night before going to bed, repeat one of the reasons 10 times. Decide surely that you want to quit. Try to avoid negative（消极的）thoughts about how difficult it might be. Develop strong personal reasons in addition to your health and duties to others. For example, think all the time you waste taking cigarette breaks, rushing out to buy a pack, hunting a light, etc. Set a date for quitting—perhaps a special day like your birthday, or a holiday. If you smoke heavily at work, quit during your vacation. Make the date seriously, and don’t let anything change it. Begin to prepare yourself physically: start a modest（适度的）exercise, drink more water, get plenty of rest.
Immediately after quitting…
The first few days after you quit, spend as much free time as possible in places where smoking is forbidden, e.g. libraries, museums, theatres, department stores, etc. Drink large quantities of water and fruit juice. Try to avoid wine, coffee, and other drinks, which remind you of cigarette smoking. Start a conversation with someone instead of asking for a match for a cigarette. If you miss the sensation（感觉）of having a cigarette in your hand, play with something else—a pencil, a pen, or a ruler. If you miss having something in your mouth, try toothpicks or a fake（假的）cigarette.Which of the following statements is best supported by the author?
| A．When you want a cigarette, try to forget it by starting a conversation with someone. |
| B．Try to drink wine, coffee, and other drinks instead of a cigarette. |
| C．If you miss the sensation of having a cigarette in your mouth, play with a pen. |
| D．Every night before going to bed, repeat the reasons 10 times. |
From the passage, we know smokers _______.
| A．spend a lot of time breaking the habit of smoking |
| B．have to stop to smoke from time to time |
| C．had better quit smoking during their holiday |
| D．start a modest exercise every day |
The author suggests _______ immediately after quitting.
| A．all kinds of drinks be avoided |
| B．drinking water and fruit juice |
| C．trying low-tar（低焦油）cigarettes |
| D．spending as much free time as possible in public places |
If the article is in a newspaper, which section is it in?
| A．Sports. | B．News. | C．Health. | D．Culture. |
Hilton English Language Center
Information for New Students
CLASS TIME: 9:00a.m.---10:30a.m., 11:00a.m.---12:30p.m., 1:30p.m.---3:00p.m.. The Language Center is open Monday to Friday. Each class has one afternoon free per week. On the first day, go to the lecture hall to check your timetable.
SELF-ACCESS: The language laboratory (Room 1110) is open Monday to Friday from 3:15p.m. to 5:00p.m. for all full-time students.
You can learn how to use computers for language games or word-processing（文字处理）. There are tapes for students to borrow to practice their English. Go in and ask the teacher to show you. If you plan to take public examinations, there are dictation（听写）and listening comprehension tapes for you to practice with. There are cloze exercises on the computers. Ask your class teacher for a list of past exam essays. Students can borrow tapes to take home but they must be returned after two days.
ATTENDANCE（出勤）：All students are expected to attend classes regularly. Students who do not attend classes will be reported to OSS. Eighty percent attendance is required for students to receive their certificates（证书）when they finish their courses. It is also required by OSS for an extension to your visa.
BOOKS: If students are given course books, the books are their responsibility. If a book is lost, the student will be expected to pay for it.
If students wish to buy books, there is a bookshop in the college specializing in English books (Room 3520). When do classes begin and end on a full day?
| A．9:00a.m. ---1:30p.m. | B．9:00a.m. ---3:00p.m. |
| C．9:00a.m. ---3:15p.m. | D．3:15p.m. ---5:00p.m. |
How many afternoons does a class meet each week?
| A．Two. | B． Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．No teachers are in the language lab. |
| B．90% attendance is required for the students. |
| C．Books can’t be taken out of the center. |
| D．Students can prepare for exams by listening to tapes. |
Timetable can be seen in _____.
| A．the lecture hall | B．Room 3520 | C．the classroom | D．Room 1110 |
To discover whether bees can see colors, the following experiment is set up. A table is put in a garden and on the table is a piece of blue cardboard (硬纸板) with a drop of syrup (糖浆) on it. After a short time, bees come to the syrup. The bees then fly to their hive (蜂窝) and give the syrup to other bees in the hive. Then they return to the feeding-place which they have discovered. After a while, the blue cardboard with the syrup on it is taken away. Instead of this card, a blue card is now put on the left side of the first feeding-place and a red card to its right. These new card have no syrup on them. Thus, the blue card is on the left, the red card on the right, and there is nothing where the first blue feeding-card used to be. Very soon bees arrive again, and fly straight to the blue card. None to the red card.To do the experiment, altogether how many cards do you need to prepare?
| A．Two, one blue and one red. | B．Three, two blue and one red. |
| C．Three, one blue and two red. | D．Four, two blue and two red. |
If figure 1 (图1) below shows the table top during step 1 of the experiment, which picture in figure 2 represents (代表) step 2?
(blue card with syrupblue card red card )
Figure 1: 
Figure 2:
A B CDDuring step 2 of the experiment, the bees come to_______.
| A．the original blue card with syrup on it |
| B．the new blue card with no syrup on it |
| C．the empty space where original blue card was |
| D．the new blue card with syrup on it |
The experiment has proved that bees _______.
| A．cannot see colors | B．can see colors |
| C．cannot see blue | D．cannot see red |
Recently a Beijing father sent in a question at an Internet forum (论坛) asking what "PK" meant.
"My family has been watching the 'Super Girl' singing competition TV programme. My little daughter asked me what 'PK' meant, but I had no idea," explained the puzzled father.
To a lot of Chinese young people who have been playing games online, it is impossible not to know this term. In such Internet games, "PK" is short for "Player Kill", in which two players fight until one ends the life of the other.
In the case of the "Super Girl" singing competition, "PK" was used to refer to the stage where two singers have to compete with each other for only one chance to go up in competition ranking.
Like this father, Chinese teachers at high schools have also been finding their students' compositions using Internet jargons which are difficult to understand. A high school teacher from Tianjin asked her students to write compositions with simple language, but they came up with a lot of Internet jargons that she didn't understand.
"My 'GG' came back this summer from college. He told me I've grown up to be a 'PLMM'. I loved to 'FB' with him together; he always took me to the 'KPM'," went one composition.
"GG" means Ge Ge (Chinese pinyin for brother). "PLMM" refers to Piao Liang Mei Mei (beautiful girl). "FB" means Fu Bai (corruption). "KPM" is short for KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonald's.
Some specialists welcome Internetjargons as a new development in language.
If you do not even know what a Kong Long (dinosaur, referring to an ugly looking female) or a Qing Wa (frog, referring to an ugly looking male) is, you will possibly be regarded as a Cai Niao! By writing the article, the writer tries to ________ .
| A．explain some Internet language | B．suggest common Internet language |
| C．laugh at the Beijing father | D．draw our attention to Internet language |
What does the writer think about the term "PK"?
| A．Fathers can't possibly know it. | B．The daughter should understand it. |
| C．Online game players may know it. | D．"Super Girl" shouldn't have used it. |
The examples of the Beijing father and the Tianjin teacher are used to show that Internet jargons________ .
| A．are used not only online | B．can be understood very well |
| C．are welcomed by all the people | D．cause trouble to our mother tongue |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．A puzzled father | B．Do you speak Internet-ish? |
| C．Keep away from Internet-ish | D．Kong Long or Qing Wa? |