Say (suppose) you are a 17th century construction worker who’s worked long and hard to build a splendid tower for the dead wife of your emperor.
Now say that the emperor orders your fingertips cut off so you can never build another one. Yes, that is the Taj Mahal, one of the most famous buildings in the world. And the tale behind the construction is just as impressive as the building itself.
First, there’s the emperor of northern India, Shah Jehan, also called the King of the World. In 1612, Shah Jehan married Mumtaz Mahal. Madly in love, they had 14 children over the next 20 years. But then sadness came. As Mumtaz was about to give birth to child number 14, she said she had heard her unborn baby cry out. It was a sign of death. And as Mumtaz lay dying, she asked Jehan to build a lasting memorial (纪念物) to celebrate their love.
When the heartbroken Jehan appeared eight days after his wife’s death, his people were shocked to see that his coal-black hair had turned snow-white.
Putting away his sadness, Jehan ordered his wife’s dying wish carried out. More than 20,000 workers labored nearly 22 years to complete the construction. In 1653, Jehan placed Mumtaz’s remains (遗体) in the center under the building.
And then, son number five, Aurangzeb, murdered his brothers and took over the power from his aging father. Jehan lived the rest of his days － eight years, to be exact － imprisoned not far from the Taj Mahal. Jehan was only allowed to climb onto the top of his prison to see the timeless treasure from a distance. But never again would he be allowed to visit it－until he was buried next to his wife.
Today 25,000 people visit the Taj Mahal each day. Though the reason for building the tower was a strange, sad story, those who see its breath-taking beauty are reminded of the happiness that inspired (激发……的灵感) its construction.The first two paragraphs were written to show that ________.
| A．the Taj Mahal is an unusual historic building |
| B．ancient Indian emperors were cruel |
| C．construction workers led a hard life in ancient India |
| D．India has some of the most famous buildings in the world |
The Taj Mahal was first built as ________.
| A．a prison | B．a gift to Mumtaz |
| C．a memorial building | D．a tourist attraction |
We learn from the text that Mumtaz probably died in ________.
| A．1626 | B．1632 | C．1634 | D．1653 |
The underlined word “happiness” in the last sentence refers to ________.
| A．the married happiness of the emperor and his wife |
| B．the great pleasure Jehan once found in exercising his power |
| C．the happiness Jehan felt on completing the Taj Mahal |
| D．the pleasure tourists experience when visiting the Taj Mahal. |
London Thursday July 26(Reuters)--Ian Johnstone missed his girlfriend so much that he flew back to Britain from Australia to propose to her．The problem is that she flew in the opposite direction．
He and Amy Dolby even managed to miss each other when they sat in the same airport waiting-room in Singapore at the same time to wait for connecting flights.
Dolby，heartbroken when she arrived at Johnstone’s Sydney apartment to find he had flown to London，told the Times：“It was as though someone was playing a cruel joke on us.He is the most romantic person I have ever known．I think our problem is that we are both quite impulsive(冲动的)people.We are always trying to surprise each other．”
After an 11，000-mile flight across the globe，she was greeted by Johnstone’s astonished flatmate asking what she was doing there.
“The terrible truth dawned when I found that Lan’s rucksack and most of his clothes were missing.I sat on the end of his bed and cried my eyes out．And that really annoyed me，”she said．
Johnstone，a 27-year-old bricklayer，had taken a year off to travel round Australia．But he was missing Dolby，a 26-year-old secretary，so much he got a job on a Sydney building site and started saving for a surprise.
He then flew home to Britain and went to her apartment armed with an engagement ring，champagne and flowers．
“I really missed Amy and I’d been thinking about her all the time．I thought she was winding me up when she phoned me from Australia．”he said．
Johnstone then asked Dolby to marry him on the phone．“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but I accepted，”she said．
Dolby was given a short tour of Sydney by Johnstone’s friends and Johnstone had to stay in Britain for two weeks because he could not change his ticket．According to the text，it seemed that .
| A．Johnstone and Dolby could have seen each other in the same airport waiting-room in Singapore |
| B．the couple pretended not to see each other in the same airport waiting-room in Singapore |
| C．the young lovestruck couple had both intended to propose to each other |
| D．Dolby stayed longer in Sydney than Johnstone stayed in Britain |
We can learn from the text that .
| A．Johnstone was not as impulsive as Dolby |
| B．Johnstone got a job in Sydney in order to start saving money for a surprise to Dolby |
| C．Dolby was heartbroken because someone was playing a cruel joke on her |
| D．Dolby was greeted by Johnstone’s flatmate at the airport |
When Johnstone asked her to marry him on the phone，Dolby didn’t know whether to laugh or cry because she had a mixed feeling of .
| A．excitement，anger and shyness |
| B．sadness，happiness and surprise |
| C．love,hatred and nevousness |
| D．cheer，regret and annoyance |
Which of the following shows the right order of what happened in the story?
a.Johnstone flew back to Britain to propose to his girlfriend，Amy Dolby．
b.Johnstone started working at a Sydney building site．
c.Johnstone went to Amy’s apartment in Britain with an engagement ring．
d.Johnstone proposed to Dolby over the phone．
e.They were waiting for their connecting flight in the airport in Singapore．
f.Dolby called Johnstone from Australia．
| A．b—a—d—e—c—f | B．c—a—b—e—f—d |
| C．b—a—e—c—f—d | D．b—a—f—e—c—d |
We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong．A day may begin well enough，but suddenly everything seems to get out of control．It seems as if a single unimportant event may cause a number of things to happen．Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time．The telephone rings and this means your troubles are beginning．While you are on the phone，the baby pulls the table-cloth off the table，destroying your half-prepared meal．You hang up hurriedly and attend to your baby．Meanwhile，the meal gets burnt．As if this were not enough to bring you to tears，your husband arrives,unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner．
Things can go wrong on a number of people on the road. During the rush hour one evening two cars hit each other and both drivers began to argue．The woman driver behind the two cars happened to be a learner．She suddenly got into a panic(恐慌)and stopped her car．This made the driver following her stop suddenly．His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake．As she was thrown forward，the cake went right through the window and landed on the road．Seeing a cake flying through the air，a truck-driver had to stop his truck all of a sudden．The truck was carrying empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the truck on the road．This led to yet another angry argument．Meanwhile，the traffic piled up behind．It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again．In the meanwhile，the truck-driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles.Only two dogs were enjoying themselves from the accident，for they were happily having what was left of the cake．It was just one of those days!In the writer’s opinion .
| A．accidents may happen anytime |
| B．troubles always come in groups |
| C．a small matter may cause great trouble |
| D．anyone may have trouble any day |
What did the police do after the accident?
| A．They helped the driver clean up the road． |
| B．They helped the drivers to go on with their journey． |
| C．They tried to stop the people from arguing． |
| D．They would find out who should be responsible for(有责任的)the accident． |
When the telephone rings .
| A．you’d better have your baby a little distant from your table before going to answer the phone |
| B．you’d better just let it ring all the way |
| C．you should never go to answer it in a hurry |
| D．you should answer it right away |
From the story we can see_________．
| A．some drivers are too careless |
| B．such accidents are rather strange |
| C．such accidents are very common |
| D．we don’t know why such accidents happen |
Range
At present，there are five network firms---China Telecom，China Unicom，Jitong Communications，China Netcom and China Mobile---that are allowed to operate IP services in China．Each company has its advantages in service.
Charge
As the Ministry of Information Industry co-ordinates，the charges of IP calls of the five companies are the same，0.30 yuan per minute for DDD calls．4．80 yuan per minute for IDD calls，2.50 yuan for calls from the mainland to Hong Kong，Macao，and Taiwan，and 1.50 yuan from Shenzhen to HK，Zhongshan and Zhuhai to Macao．IP callers don’t enjoy discounts on holidays．
China Telecom has the widest coverage．All cities in China with telephone access and most countries in the world are open to China Telecom’s IP card．
China Unicom’s IP card can reach 29 cities nationwide and more than 130 countries and regions worldwide．Jitong IP can access(接通)12 cities in China and over 70 countries and regions worldwide．
China Netcom’s IP card can reach 14 cities in China and 149 countries and regions in the world.
China Mobile’s IP card is open to only six cities nationwide but can access more than 200 countries and regions worldwide.
Voice quality
China Telecom realizes its IP service by the public Intermet,therefore net congestion(拥挤)and voice delay may sometimes disturb conversations.The other four companies have their private data networks，which help to increase transmission speeds and improve voice quality.
Other services
China Telecom，Jitong and China Mobile offer account transfer services．Users can transfer the remaining sum of money on one card to another card.
Jitong and Netcom Link their services with bank cards．One can enjoy IP’s service without an IP card．Bank card users can make IP phone calls with their bank card numbers，so they needn’t buy new IP cards and remember the new numbers again and again．
As for customer service，China Telecom，China Unicom and China Mobile provide free hot line service，while Jitong and Netcom charge for their services.Which of the following is mentioned in the passage?
| A．China Unicom charges IDD calls more than the other four firms． |
| B．China Mobile’s coverage is the least of the five firms． |
| C．China Telecom accesses many more cities nationwide than the other four． |
| D．China Netcom is the only one to be allowed to operate IP service． |
If we want to access more foreign countries and regions with better voice quality，we’d better choose IP card．
| A．China Unicom’s | B．China Netcom’s | C．China Mobile’s | D．China Telecom’s |
When enjoying IP service， .
| A．Jitong users needn’t buy IP cards |
| B．China Telecom users needn’t buy new IP cards |
| C．Netcom users have to link with a bank |
| D．China Mobile users have to pay for their hot line service |
The passage mainly talks about .
| A．differences between the five IP fims |
| B．foundation of China’s five IP firms |
| C．development of China’s five IP firms |
| D．organization of the five IP firms |
It seems that some people go out of their way to get into trouble．That’s more or less what happened the night that Nashville Police officer Floyd Hyde was on duty.
“I was on the way to a personal-injury accident in West Nashville．As I got onto Highway 40，blue lights and sirens(警笛)going.I fell in behind a gold Pontiac Firebird that suddenly seemed to take off quickly down the highway．The driver somehow panicked at the sight of me．He was going more than a hundred miles an hour and began passing cars on the shoulder．”
But Hyde couldn’t go after him．Taking care of injured people is always more important than worrying about speeders，so the officer had to stay on his way to the accident．But he did try to keep the Firebird in sight as he drove，hoping another nearby unit would be able to step in and stop the speeding car．As it turned out，keeping the Firebird in sight was not that difficult．Every turn the Pontiac made was the very turn the officer needed to get to the accident scene.
Hyde followed the Pontiac all the way to his destination(目的地)．At that point he found another unit had already arrived at the accident scene．His help wasn’t needed.Now he was free to try to stop the driver of the Firebird，who by this time had developed something new to panic about．
“Just about that time，” Hyde said，“I saw fire coming out from under that car，with blue smoke and oil going everywhere.He’d blown his engine．Now he had to stop．”
“After I arrested him．I asked him why he was running．He told me he didn’t have a driver’s license(执照)．”
That accident cost the driver of the Firebird plenty---a thousand dollars for the new engine---not to mention the charges for driving without a license，attempting to run away，and dangerous driving．The underlined word“panicked”in Paragraph 2 means .
| A．feared | B．hated | C．excited | D．satisfied |
The driver of the Firebird suddenly speeded down the highway because .
| A．he was racing with another driver on the road |
| B．he realized he had to hurry to the accident scene |
| C．he thought the police officer wanted to stop him |
| D．he wanted to overtake other cars on the shoulder |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Someone else was taking care of the injured person． |
| B．The Pontiac reached its destination at the accident scene． |
| C．Hyde knew where he was going by following the right car． |
| D．The policeman was running after a speeder on Highway 40 |
Choose the best title for the passage．
| A．Going My Way? | B．Help on the Way? |
| C．Fun All theWay? | D．Losing His Way? |
So you have been called for an interview---well done?Your effort has been paid off? You will feeI better at the interview if you show an understanding of the nature of the organization．
Ask someone who already does it，or check it with one of the advisers．
Ask a member of your family or a friend to act as the employer and to give you an unreal interview．Be as realistic as possible，answer the questions seriously．Afterwards discuss how it went．Think about how the employer would prefer to see your look．Remember---the majority of employers are over 30.
It is not wise to rush out and buy new clothes.which will be worn for the first time at the interview．You’ll feel more at ease in a familiar dress．
Carelessness in any of these could cost you the job．Arrive at least 15 minutes before time，this will give you a chance to have a look around，read the notice board and get the feel of the place．Being late at the interview produces a bad impression．The first impression that the interviewer gets of you is formed as you walk through the door，so take a couple of deep breaths．
Be ready to shake hands if the interviewer offers．
Don’t take a seat until asked．Then sit comfortably．
Make eye contact when you are greeted and again if you shake hands．And during questioning,eye contact is a form of non-verbal greeting．
Remember the interviewer’s name and use it from time to time．
Be ready for the question “Is there anything you want to ask?” Before the interview you should get ready for two or three such questions．Look on these not just as a chance to get information but as a means to give your employer a better impression．Asking can show knowledge but avoid asking about holidays，pensions(养老金)and so on．It looks as if you are tired even before you begin．You can check on these later，when the hope for job is offered．
And if you fail, look upon the interview as an experience in itself．Learn from it．We wish you good luck and good job hunting．Before you go to see the employer，you’d better .
| A．find a dress you have got used to |
| B．buy some modern shoes，ties，etc． |
| C．have your hair cut |
| D．put on your newly-bought clothes |
What does the phrase“eye contact”means?
| A．A kind of greeting without words． |
| B．Shaking hands with the interviewer． |
| C．Looking at each other for a long time． |
| D．A way of getting a desirable job． |
People usually do the following things before a job interview．Which is the right order for doing them?
a．Asking a friend to give you an unreal interview．
b．Understanding the nature of the organization．
c．Paying attention to your clothes．
d．Arriving at the place of the interview ahead of time．
e．Getting some information from the advisers．
| A．a—e—b—c—d | B．d—c—b—a—e |
| C．b—e—a—c—d | D．e—d—a—b—c |
Why do you prepare yourself for some Is--there·-anything·-you·-want--to-say questions?
| A．To give the employer more information． |
| B．To get information about holiday and pension． |
| C．To impress the employer better and get further information from the company as well． |
| D．To show that you are the most knowledgeable． |