Every people has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions. Many everyday American expressions are on colors.
Red is a hot color. Americans often use it to express heat. They may say they are red hot about something unfair. When they are red hot,they are very angry about something. The small hot tasting peppers found in many Mexican foods are called red hots for their color and their fiery taste. Fast loud music is popular with many people. They may say the music is red hot, especially the kind called Dixieland jazz.
Pink is a lighter kind of red. People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health. The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the twentieth century. It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink color that shows that they are in good health.
Blue is a cool color. The traditional blues music in the United States is the opposite of red hot music. Blues is slow, sad and soulful. Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded a famous song Mood Indigo about the deep blue color, indigo. In the words of the song: "You ain't been blue till you've had that Mood Indigo." Someone who is blue is very sad.
The color green is natural for trees and grass. But it is an unnatural color for humans. A person who has a sick feeling stomach may say she feels a little green. A passenger on a boat who is feeling very sick from high waves may look very green.
Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as a friend has, like a fast new car. That person may say he is green with envy. Some people are green with envy because a friend has more dollars or greenbacks. Dollars are called greenbacks because that is the color of the back side of the paper money.
The color black is used often in expressions. People describe a day in which everything goes wrong as a black day. The date of a major tragedy is remembered as a black day. A blacklist is illegal now. But at one time,some businesses refused to employ people who were on a blacklist for belonging to unpopular organizations. If you had your wallet stolen while doing some shopping, you may call it ______ .
A.a white day | B.a black day |
C.a red day | D.a green day |
Suppose a Mr. Brown says he is very happy because his three children* are all in the pink, this means all his children are ______ .
A.lucky and wealthy |
B.gentle and modest |
C.fit and healthy |
D.creative and energetic |
When she got home and found nothing had been done by her husband, Jane was really ______ .
A.red hot | B.green |
C.blue | D.black |
In the following paragraph, the writer might tell the readers something about ______ .
A.unpopular polarizations in the world |
B.people's response towards a black day |
C.the influence of the traditional blues |
D.more words about colors,such as brown |
Many people turn to doctors or self-help books, but they ignore(忽视) a powerful thing that could help them fight illness: their friends.
Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship in health. A 10-year Australian study found that old people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk(风险) for obesity (肥胖) among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could improve brain health as we age.
“In general, the role (作用) of friendship in our lives isn’t well realized,” said Rebecca, a professor at the University of North Carolina. “Friendship has a bigger effect on our psychological (心理的) health than family relationships.”
While(尽管) many friendship studies are about the close relationships of women, some research shows that men can benefit, too. In a six-year study of 736 middle-aged men, having friendships reduces the risk of heart attack. Only smoking was as important a risk factor (因素) as having little social support.
Exactly why friendship has such a big effect isn’t entirely(完全) clear. While friends can send a sick person to the hospital or pick up medicine, the benefits go well beyond physical assistance. Friendship clearly has a big psychological effect. “People with stronger friendships feel like there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen, a doctor. “The message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”The three studies in the second paragraph show that ______.
A.old people need friends the most |
B.friends can help us lose weight |
C.social ties are connected to health |
D.more friends make us healthier |
What do Rebecca’s words in the 3rd paragraph mean?
A.Friendship is more important to women than to men. |
B.What people need most is a friend’s care. |
C.Friendship is more important than family relationship. |
D.The value of friendship hasn’t been fully understood. |
The author mentioned smoking in the 4rd paragraph to discuss ______.
A.the cause of heart attack | B.the risk of having no friends |
C.smoking is bad for men | D.friends’ influence on habits |
What would be the best title of the text?
A.Friends are better than medicine |
B.Friends are as important as a family |
C.Having good friends leads to a healthier life |
D.Friendship makes people happy |
French lessons in France
Whatever your level is, choosing to take French lessons in France is the best way to learn French. Place yourself in the local culture and practice your newly found skills in your free time.
You will be taught by native (本地的) French speakers who have a love for teaching and use excellent teaching techniques. Lessons are interesting and you will speak French on the first day both inside and outside the classroom.
Learners
● Suitable for all levels from beginners to advanced (高级的)
● Over 18 years old
Class Schedule (课表)
● Classes start on Mondays and run throughout the summer.
● Please arrive at the school by 8:15 am on your first day for a short level test. It will help to place you in the right class.
● Classes run from Monday to Friday each week.
● Classes start at 8:45 am each day depending on your level.
● You will have 3 classes per day lasting 55 minutes each.
● You will have a short break between classes.
Free Time and Tours
● The school offers a lot of cultural activities throughout the week. These activities can include cooking lessons, wine and cheese tasting, visits to Paris, cycling, movies and much more.
● You will have plenty of free time to explore (探索) the local area and practice your newly found language skills or just relax on this learning holiday with a difference.
Other Information
● You should bring a small dictionary, pens and paper with you.
Get more from your holiday, have fun, meet new people and take home a new language skill that will stay with you forever.What is special about the French courses?
A.They are taught in small groups. |
B.The teachers are young French speakers. |
C.People learn French in and out of class. |
D.They will offer a wine tasting license.(执照) |
On the first day, the students should ______.
A.take a language test | B.pay for their study |
C.do a survey | D.introduce themselves to the class |
How many lessons are there in a week?
A.21. | B.30. | C.15. | D.12. |
We can learn from the text that the course ______.
A.is not suitable for teenagers |
B.offers cooking classes as well |
C.provides dictionaries for students |
D.has a short game between classes |
Where do the turtles go?
Every summer, thousands of endangered green sea turtles climb onto beaches around the world. Each mother sea turtle produces 100 or more eggs in a hole, and covers the hole with sand before she swims away.
Two months later, the eggs hatch(孵化), and the baby turtles climb out of the sand and swim into the ocean. They don’t reappear until they have grown as large as dinner plates. Until now, no one knows where the baby turtles go or what they do.
“if we don’t know where these little turtles are, we can’t protect them,” says Kim Reich, who helps solve part of the mystery.
Her teacher, Karen Bjorndal, has studied green sea turtles for more than 30 years. Every year, Bjorndal goes to the Bahamas Islands. Many young sea turtles come here to live and eat at the end of their childhood.
These turtles are the only sea turtles that live as plant eaters. In fact, their name may be a result of what they eat. The turtles don’t look green but they do have green fat. Scientists learned that the turtles eat green sea plants, which may turn their fat green.
Between 2002 and 2004, Bjorndal caught 44 green sea turtles in the Bahamas. After testing them, she found something to support the 20-year-old idea: baby green sea turtles eat meat before they turn to a diet of plants. In fact, they eat animals that live in the open ocean.
Scientists still need to find where exactly green sea turtles grow. We now know that baby green sea turtles are out in the open ocean, but the open ocean is a big place.
“It is really a problem,” says Bjorndal. The discovery may help us do a better job of protecting this sea animal.What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?
A.baby turtles go to the ocean when they are two months old. |
B.Mother turtles leave the eggs alone after they produce them. |
C.No one knows when turtles appear on the beach. |
D.Mother turtles are as large as dinner plates. |
Kim Reich does research on where baby turtles go because she wants to _________.
A.help her teacher | B.prove an idea |
C.protect turtles | D.become a scientist |
What does Karen Bjorndal’s research prove about green sea turtles?
A.the young live in the Bahamas Islands. |
B.The young eat meat before turning to a diet of plants |
C.They live in the open ocean for a lifelong time |
D.They are the only sea turtles that live as plant eaters. |
What does the underlined word “It” in the last paragraph refer to?
A.Finding out where young turtles grow. |
B.Protecting this endangered sea animal. |
C.Changing young turtles’ eating habits. |
D.Living in the open ocean. |
I hate nosy (爱管闲事的) neighbors and it’s very unlucky that I had one for myself. They moved in a couple of months back and although I never felt that they were a strange family, I’ve always hated the way they get “too close” to me, my house, my garden, and even my garbage cans.
One day, my neighbors were mowing their lawn (草坪). My garbage cans were near their lawn. For some strange reason, I found the wife looking through my garbage cans. I felt angry but since they were from a different culture, I thought that maybe it was “normal” from their ideas.
That afternoon, the couple knocked on my front door. When I opened, they gave me a plastic bag. Inside were my old daily bills, credit cards and bank statements, and an old birthday card that my old uncle sent. They said that they were returning them to me because these documents contained very private information that may be used by others.
I’ve heard of it before. I asked them how those documents can be used by others and they started telling me their very own experience, which forced them to leave their home and move next door to us. The wife told me that she never destroyed the bills. They also had a “nosy neighbor” who looked through their garbage cans which they actually thought was pretty strange. Little did they know that this “nosy neighbor” was collecting their personal information from their rubbish. Then all their money was taken out from the bank by their neighbor.
It was a very painful experience for all of them and they wanted to leave it all behind so they left. I was very thankful. They were not nosy neighbors. They simply didn’t want us to experience the same thing that they did.What made the author angry?
A.His neighbor’s wife was looking through his rubbish. |
B.His neighbors were mowing their lawn one morning. |
C.His neighbors got too close to his own home. |
D.His neighbors came to knock at his door at night. |
Why did the couple come to the author’s home?
A.To introduce themselves to the author. |
B.To get to know each other better. |
C.To return the documents to the author. |
D.To borrow some money from the author. |
Which of the following can we infer from the last paragraph?
A.The author was kind and helpful to the neighbors. |
B.The neighbors had to move from place to place. |
C.The neighbors didn’t have enough money. |
D.The author changed his idea about his neighbors. |
Everybody in this world is different from one another.But do you know that understanding differences can help you better manage your money?
As we grow up,we gradually develop a set of our own values or beliefs.These are influenced by society,our family,the education we receive and so on.Once this value system is set up,it's not easy to change later in life.
Financial experts say that everyone also has their own belief of how to manage their finances.This is part of our value system and it has a great impact on the way we look after our money.
According to our different values,experts put us in three categories.They are:the ant,the cricket and the snail.
The ant-works first
Just like ants who work heart and soul in summer in order to store food for winter,these people don't care about enjoying the moment.They work very hard and save money they earn so that they can enjoy life when they get old and retire.The ant loves to save but they could make more out of their money if they were willing to invest in some funds and stocks with low risk.
The cricket-fun first
The cricket wants to enjoy everything now and doesn't think too much about the future.They even borrow money when they really want something.Many young people now belong to this group.These people have little savings.When they get old,they might have problems.They should learn to save and buy insurance.
The snail-lives under pressure
The snail refers to people who make life difficult for themselves.They take big long-term loans from the bank in order to buy things such as luxury houses.They are happy to take big loans even though they are not sure whether they can afford it.This can cause problems in the future.They should plan more carefully.People with the character of the snail would like to __________.
A.enjoy life at the moment without thinking much about the future |
B.put work before everything else |
C.live a luxury life at all costs |
D.take the risk of investing a large sum of money |
Our beliefs and values are affected by the following except __________.
A.society | B.our family | C.education | D.money |
This passage mainly talks about __________.
A.the spending nature of people |
B.the relation between man and insects |
C.the insects in nature |
D.the problems with dealing with money |
Which of the following has the character that the author prefers?
A.The ant | B.The cricket |
C.The snail | D.None of the above |