As prices and building costs keep rising, the ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) trend (趋势) in the U.S. continues to grow.
‘We needed furniture (家具) for our living room,’ says John Ross, ‘and we just didn’t have enough money to buy it. So we decided 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 a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.We can learn from the text that many newly married people ________.
| A．find it hard to pay for what they need |
| B．have to learn to make their own furniture |
| C．take DIY courses run by the government |
| D．seldom go to a department store to buy things |
John and his wife went to evening classes to learn how to ________.
| A．run a DIY shop |
| B．make or repair things |
| C．save time and money |
| D．improve the quality (质量) 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 his own car and home repairs |
| C．does extra work at night |
| 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．the car repair class was not helpful |
| C．he could not possibly do two jobs |
| D．his car repairs cost too much |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．the Joy of DIY |
| B．You Can Do It Too! |
| C．Welcome to Our DIY Course! |
| D．Ross and Hatfield: Believers in DIY |
A person steps on what seems like solid ground but discovers with horror that the ground is giving way underfoot. The person struggles desperately but is trapped. There is no escape. Slowly the person sinks deeper and at last is gone. The solid ground was solid only in appearance. It was actually quicksand, which is a deep mass of fine sand mixed with water.
How is quicksand formed? Water pushes up from below the surface and is held by the sand. The grains of sand are forced apart by the water. They cannot hold any weight. The subsurface water may have come from a spring, a river, or a stream. Sometimes pools of water near beaches become filled with sand. When the soil under these pools does not allow for good drainage(排水), the sand can become stretches of quicksand.
Is it true that a person who steps into quicksand is doomed to die? No, for people have fought their way from quicksand to firm land again. It is panic(恐慌) that creates the condition that can result in death, for the more a person struggles, the worse matters become. Quick movements will make the sand yield for a time, but then it rushes back and settles solidly around the body.
People trapped in quicksand should either lie back with arms outstretched, or not move at all. When the weight of the sand around his body has displaced equals that person’s weight, the victim will stop sinking. With feet held still, and with slow movements of the arms, as in the backstroke(仰泳) in swimming, people have managed to roll to safety and reach firm ground. Quick movements by a person trapped in quicksand will _______.
| A．help the person reach firm ground |
| B．help prevent panic |
| C．make the same sand yield temporarily |
| D．make the sand hold the person’s weight |
Quicksand is _______.
| A．a mass of fine sand mixed with water | B．formed only along rivers |
| C．found below subsurface water | D．solid ground |
Which statement does the article lead you to believe?
| A．Stretches of quicksand are found only under the sea. |
| B．People should never try to escape from quicksand. |
| C．It is hard to keep calm if you fall into quicksand. |
| D．Only heavy people can be trapped in quicksand. |
The passage mainly tells about _______.
| A．what solid ground looks like | B．the nature of quicksand |
| C．stepping into quicksand | D．escaping from quicksand |
A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was alarmed to discover that it was a rat trap (捕鼠夹).
Going back to the farmyard the rat gave a warning: “There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!” The chicken raised her head and said: “Excuse me, Mr Rat, I can tell this is a big concern to you, but it is of no business to me. I cannot be bothered with it.”
The rat turned to the pig and told him: “There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!”“I am so very sorry, Mr. Rat,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. I will make sure that you are in my prayers.”
The rat turned to the cow. She said, “Like wow, Mr. Rat. A rat trap. I am in grave danger. Duh?”
So the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s rat trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rat trap catching its prey (猎物). The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a poisonous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet (短柄斧) to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.
His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them the farmer killed the pig.
The farmer’s wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow killed to provide meat for all of them to eat.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when there is a rat trap in the house, the whole farmyard is at risk.The underlined word “dejected” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to .
| A．disappointed | B．surprised | C．confused | D．doubtful |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?
| A．The chicken showed great concern for the rat. |
| B．The pig helped the rat get rid of the trap. |
| C．The cow didn’t care about what the rat said. |
| D．The snake was killed after being caught in the trap. |
We can conclude from the article that .
| A．the farmer’s wife got good treatment in the hospital |
| B．the farmer regretted setting up the rat trap |
| C．the rat was very wise in avoiding the trap |
| D．none of the other animals felt threatened by the rat trap |
What message does the story intend to convey?
| A．We should mind our own business. | B．Everything is related to something else. |
| C．Helping others is always a virtue. | D．We should treat animals in a friendly way. |
Nowroz: Iranian New Year or Nowroz is celebrated on the first day of spring sometime in March. Nowroz ceremonies are symbolic representations of good and evil. People sing, dance and parade as in a carnival through the streets with drums and trumpets to spread the news of the coming new year.
Rosh Hashanah: The Jewish New Year is called “Rosh Hashanah”, and is celebrated in the month of September. It is a holy time when people think of the things they have done wrong in the past, and promise to do better in the future. Special prayers are held, and an instrument called a Shofar is played. Children are given new clothes, and New Year loaves are baked and fruits are consumed to remind people of harvest time.
Shogatsu: In Japan, the New Year (Shogatsu) celebrations are from January 1 to January 3 and most Japanese don’t work during these days. In Japan, years are traditionally seen as completely separate from each other, and the New Year is a fresh start. This means that in December all duties should be completed. Parties are held to forget the worries and troubles of the old year. Homes and cars are decorated. On New Year’s Eve, most people spend their time with their families.
Bahai New Year: The Bahai people have their own calendar consisting of nineteen months of nineteen days plus a couple of extra days between the eighteenth and nineteenth months. They have, however, adopted the Iranian custom of beginning the New Year in the spring equinox (春分). The day begins at sunset rather than midnight, and the New Year celebrations are held on the evening of March 20th.During the Jewish New Year, .
| A．people don’t mention things they have done wrong |
| B．children often wear new clothes |
| C．loaves and fruits are often forbidden to be served |
| D．Shofar is their favourite food |
Which of the following festivals are celebrated in the same month?
| A．Nowroz and Shogatsu. | B．Rosh Hashanah and Shogatsu. |
| C．Nowroz and Rosh Hashanah. | D．Nowroz and the Bahai New Year. |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Japanese families often stay together to celebrate Shogatsu. |
| B．The Bahai people usually hold a carnival to celebrate the New Year. |
| C．The Jewish harvest fruits to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. |
| D．The Iranians often hold family parties to celebrate Nowroz. |
Restaurant owners should not use disposable chopsticks for the good of their health and the environment , an official of the China Cuisine Association（中国烹饪协会）said.
Bian Jiang, its secretary general, recently called on restaurant owners to say no to one-off tableware(餐具), especially wooden chopsticks. “The country produces and throws away over 45 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks every year, at a cost to the environment of about 25 million tree.” Bian said.
“That’s a heavy blow to the county’s shrinking(正在减少的) forests,” he said, “We should not turn a deaf ear to the call for environmental protection. We should stop using disposable tableware from now on.”
In order to discourage the use of wooden chopsticks and to protect wooden resources, the government put a 5% tax on them in April.
The use of disposable chopsticks has been discussed for years. Their supporters say that both restaurant owners and consumers prefer them, and that an industry has grown up around their production.
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The secretary general suggests that wooden chopsticks be stopped from being used because .
| A．they cause a lot of pollution of the environment |
B．the environment is no longer gre en |
| C．the government is not happy with that |
| D．too many trees are cut |
From the text we know that the idea of no disposable tableware will be .
| A．hard to put into practice | B．welcomed by a lot of people |
| C．receiving indifferent attitudes | D．rejected by some people |
What does the underlined word “disposable” in the first paragraph mean?
| A．Waste | B．Expensive | C．Man | D．One-use |
What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．Many people support the idea of saying no to using wooden chopsticks. |
| B．The government calls on people to stop using wooden chopsticks. |
| C．Disposable tableware wastes a lot of forests and does damage to the environment. |
| D．People are aware of the cost of using disposable tableware |
A young woman carrying a three-year-old child got on a bus. The conductor hurried to give her a warm welcome and then kindly asked the other passengers to make more room for the woman and her child. On seeing this, people began to talk. "You know this conductor used to be very rude. Now suddenly he has changed his bad behavior, "said a middle-aged man.
"Yes, he should be praised and we must write a letter to the company," said a second passenger. "That's right," another lady said, "I wish a newspaper reporter were here so that more people could learn from this conductor.”
Just then a gentleman who looked like a teacher turned to the conductor and said, "Excuse me, but can I know your name, please? Your excellent service must be praised..."
Before he could open his mouth, the three-year-old child sitting on the young woman's lap interrupted, "I know his name. I call him Dad."
One passenger suggested writing a letter to the company to ______ .
| A．make a demand for more buses | B． thank the conductor for his good service |
| C．criticize the conductor for his rude behavior | |
| D．invite a newspaper reporter to write about the conductor |
What was the gentleman?
| A．A teacher. | B．A newspaper reporter. |
| C．Not known from the story. | D．The conductor's friend from his company. |
. The word "he" in the last paragraph refers to _______.
| A．the gentleman | B．the conductor |
| C．the middle-aged man | D．the three-year-old child |
It is clear from the story that the conductor _______.
| A．has changed his attitude towards his work |
| B．has now been kind and polite to all passengers |
| C．has not changed his rude behavior to passengers |
| D．has now been kind and polite to women with children |